British Postgraduate Medical School

Abstract

H.M. THE KING formerly opened the British Postgraduate Medical School at the L.C.C. Hospital, Ducane Road, Hammersmith, on May 13. It will be recalled that the School arose out of a recommendation of a committee under the Earl of Athlone that London should have a centre for medical postgraduate work comparable with the great continental medical schools, which should be attached to the University and receive substantial Government support. By the co-operation of the Government, the University of London and the London County Council, one of the hospitals under the last-mentioned body was allocated and specially enlarged and equipped for the purpose (see NATURE, April 21, 1934, p. 600). Their Majesties were received by Sir Austen Chamberlain, chairman of the governing body of the School, who described its inception, stating that the School has three great tasks: to enable general practitioners to become familiar with the latest developments in diagnosis and treatment; to provide instruction for graduates undertaking specialist studies; and to promote research and advance medical knowledge. The King, in his reply, said that “The provision within the University of London of a new centre for clinical teaching marks a notable advance in the continuous effort of the medical profession to increase its capacity for service to mankind”. He concluded by expressing the hope that “this school, with its happy union of ward and laboratory, university and local authority, drawing students and teachers alike from all parts of our Empire, and … from regions even more widely spread … [may] play an imperial role in the winning and dissemination of medical knowledge, in the relief of suffering … and in enabling the doctors of all lands to come together in a task where all must be allies and helpers.”