The Pears Cumbria School of Medicine is a collaborative medical school in Cumbria, England, created by the University of Cumbria and Imperial College London, with support from the Pears Foundation. [1] It was launched in November 2023 [1] and will admit its initial cohort of 58 graduate-entry medical students in August 2025. [2] [3] They will be based at the University of Cumbria's Fusehill Street Campus in Carlisle. [4] [5] [6]
The school aims to "produce doctors committed to delivering cutting-edge healthcare approaches and serve the needs of their local community", and to improve health in Cumbria and north west England. It also commits to encouraging local people to consider a career in medicine and widening access to medical eduation. [7] Students will be awarded their medical degree by Imperial College. [8] The interim head of the new school is Professor Mary Morrell. [9] [10]
First announced in April 2022, [11] the medical school was cited in the 2023 National Health Service Long Term Workforce Plan as a "good example" of addressing geographical inequality by "focusing new medical schools and additional places in geographical areas with the greatest staff shortfalls and unmet healthcare need". [12] In May 2024 the NHS announced that an additional eight places at Pears Cumbria would be funded, as part of an increase of 54 places across north west England, thus bringing the initial intake up to 58 students. [13]
The medical school will be based at the University of Cumbria's Fusehill Street Campus in Carlisle. This was a military hospital during World War I, and later Carlisle's maternity hospital, [14] [15] and is a grade II listed building. [16]
Imperial College London (Imperial) is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, who envisioned a cultural area in South Kensington that included museums, colleges, and the Royal Albert Hall. In 1907, these colleges – the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines, and the City and Guilds of London Institute – merged to form the Imperial College of Science and Technology.
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