Sections
You are here: Home → Alumni → The History of Medicine at Oxford University

The History of Medicine at Oxford University

OMA is closely involved in developing and enhancing the history of medicine at Oxford - its many distinguished alumni, its eminent researchers and the numerous notable achievements. Working with the Bodleian Library, through the Saving Oxford Medicine project, we encourage alumni to offer their professional papers to the OMA archive which will conserve and manage them for the benefit of future research. Recollecting Oxford Medicine comprises a group of alumni who are working to develop the oral archives of Oxford medicine. Please contact OMA if you would like to find out more about this project. Information on the history of the Oxford Medical School and on the history of Oxford Medical Alumni can be found by following the links below.

Page The History of Oxford Medical Alumni
Oxford Graduates Medical Club (OGMC) was founded in 1884 and at one time was one of the foremost meeting places for medical debate in the country. However, by 1998, it was unable to embrace the needs of the expanding Oxford medical community, membership was dropping, and it was decided that unless new life was breathed into the club it would have to close. A group of Oxford medical alumni aware of discussions within Green College Oxford, the Oxford Osler House Club, the Oxford University Medical Sciences Division and the Friends of 13 Norham Gardens concerning the need for keeping in touch, decided to relaunch the group. At its final meeting in Green College in September 1999, members of the club agreed to its dissolution and its replacement by the new association (OMA). The Oxford Graduates Medical Club was relaunched in 2000 as Oxford Medical Alumni.
Page The History of the Oxford Medical School
Medicine has been taught at Oxford since the thirteenth century, and for several hundred years Oxford was in the forefront of medical education. Its influence reached a peak in the seventeenth century, when the turbulent political atmosphere of London drove many leading scientists to seek a haven in Oxford. William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood, was among their number; others included Thomas Willis, a pioneering neuroanatomist and Christopher Wren, better known for his architectural achievements but who made a number of detailed anatomical drawings while at Oxford.
Page A Walk through Nine Centuries of Medicine at Oxford
A guided walk through the history of medicine in Oxford and accompanying guidebook by Dr Eric Sidebottom.
Page Saving Oxford Medicine
The Medical Sciences Division, in collaboration with the Bodleian Library, is embarking on an ambitious project designed to create a lasting archive of the personal papers of the most important Oxford medical doctors of the 20th and 21st centuries. The aim is to ensure the scientific legacy of this golden period for Oxford medicine is preserved for the benefit of future researchers, and to help Oxford explain and communicate the great contribution of its medical scientists.
Image Radcliffe Camera
 
Image Balliol Lane
 
Image High Street
 
Image Radcliffe Infirmary
 
Image Museum for the History of Science
 
Image Cover of book
 
Image Osler Letter