Medicine at the University of Edinburgh

By the middle of the century, the success of the school came from teaching both medicine and surgery in a university setting, but with a clinical base in a teaching hospital. 

The establishment of the Medical Faculty was soon followed by the founding of a public hospital, originally in temporary accommodation in 1729, but after 1741 in the purpose-built Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. 

The physicians had already established a botanic garden for the study of medicinal plants and this gave the base for the development of studies in Materia Medica (pharmacology) and chemistry. 

By 1764, the numbers of medical students were so great that a new 200-seat anatomy theatre was built in the College Garden. 

Edinburgh’s fame was enhanced later by a succession of brilliant teachers, such as William Cullen, James Gregory and Joseph Black (discoverer of carbon dioxide and of latent heat). 

The School attracted many students from Ireland, America and worldwide, and Edinburgh graduates were closely involved in the founding of several of the first medical schools in the US and Canada. 

Image: North front of Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh circa 1751.

Edinburgh Medical School was considered one of the most prestigious medical schools in the world during the 19th century. 

The early 1820s saw the admission of one the school's most famous students: Charles Darwin.

Darwin reportedly neglected his studies and left the school after two years without graduating. However, his work with marine biologist Robert Grant during his time at Edinburgh is considered to have had some influence on his later career as a naturalist, geologist and biologist.

Throughout the century, medical practices continued to evolve: midwifery was finally admitted as an essential part of the compulsory medical curriculum, while James Young Simpson revolutionised obstetric and surgical practice with the introduction of chloroform anesthesia in 1847. 

In the 1850s, the University of Edinburgh became one of the first destinations for early Chinese students who wanted to study overseas. Dr Wong Fun (Huang Kuan, 黄宽) or Wong Cheuk Hing (绰卿), became the first Western trained doctor in China, after studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh between 1850 and 1855.

In the same decade, James “Africanus” Beale Horton from Sierra Leone completed his medical degree at Edinburgh. Horton graduated in 1859 and is considered to be the University of Edinburgh's first African graduate. 

There were enormous advances in surgery, under great names such as Robert Liston, James Syme and Joseph Lister, particularly with Lister’s introduction of antiseptic and aseptic techniques in the 1870s. 

Edinburgh also played a part in the battle for admission of women into medicine with the reluctant acceptance of Sophia Jex Blake to some classes in 1869, though the eventual concession of full equality with men was not achieved till 1889. 

Edinburgh Medical School became home of the United Kingdom's first Chair of Public Health in 1898. The Chair was funded by local businessmen, Andrew Low Bruce and John Usher in response to the poor public health situation in Edinburgh at the time. 

New facilities 

By the 1860s, the development of Edinburgh medicine was constrained by its existing premises, with the Royal Infirmary in ageing buildings around Infirmary Street and the Medical Faculty still squeezed into the University quadrangle on South Bridge (now known as Old College). 

A fine new building at Lauriston Place was finished in 1880. New premises were also required for the Medical Faculty as modern teaching demanded proper facilities for scientific research and practical laboratories. A site was selected just across from the new Royal Infirmary and a new Medical School was opened in 1884.  

Images, l-r: Joseph Lister, James Africanus Horton, James Young Simpson, Sophia Jex Blake.

In 1906, Meher A.D. Naoroji became the first Indian woman to gain a degree from the University of Edinburgh (rather than the Scottish Triple). She graduated with an MB (Bachelor of Medicine) and ChB degree (Bachelor of Surgery) returning to practice medicine in Gujarat, in the city of Bhuj .  

Another notable early female graduate from Edinburgh Medical School was Elsie Inglis, who organised women-run field hospitals during World War I. Inglis and her team worked in Serbia, staying behind when the Germans advanced. She and those who’d chosen to stay worked in the Czar Lazar Barrack prisoner-of-war hospital, where they treated people in horrific conditions during  during the 1915 winter.

Dominican born Clara Marguerite Gordon (née Christian) enrolled to study medicine at Edinburgh in 1915 and became the first black woman to enroll at the University. Despite never graduating (giving up her own education for her husband and children) Clara paved the way for other talented black women to follow after her. 

In 1929, Agnes Yewande Savage was probably the first woman from West Africa to qualify in medicine. Agnes excelled at Edinburgh Medical School, winning numerous prizes and went on to play key roles in the early histories of a number of important Ghanaian institutions.  

1931 saw the first successful intercranial operation on a ruptured brain aneurysm, performed by Norman Dott who began lecturing at the University of Edinburgh in 1932 and became Professor of Neurosurgery in 1947. 

In 1941, during the Second World War, the Polish Medical School was established at the University of Edinburgh, remaining open until 1949. A large number of Polish armed forces evacuated from occupied France were stationed in eastern Scotland. The Polish Medical School was opened to support Polish army doctors and also to help Polish medical students continue their studies supported by medical teaching staff from Polish medical academies. 

In 1948, the National Health Service was established and with it, the introduction of free healthcare for all and the closure of public dispensaries. The closure of these dispensaries, which had provided treatment for patients unable to afford a private doctor, removed the opportunity for training doctors in primary care.  

By 1956, Edinburgh Medical School had established a successful alternative. Two health centres (Richmond Street and the Cowgate) provided medical care for about 2,500 local patients and enabled medical students to be trained in general practice. In doing so, Edinburgh established the world’s first Department of General Practice, and in 1963, Professor Richard Scott became the world’s first Chair in General Practice. 

Images, l-r: Agnes Yewande Savage, Elsie Inglis, cadet officers taking part in the Polish School of Medicine, Norman Dott

Between 1951 and 1956, Asrat Woldeyes studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and became the first person from Ethiopia to graduate in medicine from Edinburgh. He went on to become one of Ethiopia's most prominent medical doctors.  

1956 also saw the introduction of Nursing Studies at the University of Edinburgh, making it the first UK university to set up a nursing teaching unit. The unit was headed by Elsie Stephenson, a trained midwife, nurse and health visitor. Her appointment was the first time a nurse had been made a faculty member at British university.  

More medical breakthroughs came out of Edinburgh in the latter half of the twentieth century. Sir John Crofton, Professor of Respiratory Diseases and Tuberculosis, sparked a revolution in the treatment of TB, with what became known as the ‘Edinburgh Method’ in the 1950s. Such was Crofton’s success, the new method of treatment halved TB rates in Edinburgh between 1954 and 1957. 

In 1960, Sir Michael Woodruff, Professor of Surgery, performed the United Kingdom’s first successful kidney transplant in Leith Hospital. 

As the twentieth century came to a close, Dolly the sheep was announced on 22 February 1997 as the first mammal to be cloned from the DNA of an adult cell. Dolly was the output of research by Sir Ian Wilmut and colleagues at The Roslin Institute and led to the founding of a whole new field of regenerative medicine. Sir Ian became the founding director of the Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine when it opened in 2012. 

Move to Little France 

In 2002, after 118 years at Teviot Place, Edinburgh Medical School relocated to Little France, closely followed by the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh which also relocated and was officially opened in 2003. 

The Chancellor’s Building became the school’s brand new teaching building and its location right beside the new hospital brought teaching and medical practice even closer together on a new medical campus now known as Edinburgh BioQuarter. 

Images, l-r: Sir John Crofton, Elsie Stephenson, Sir Michael Woodruff, Ian Wilmut