History of the Society

The Royal Medical Society (the RMS) is the only medical society in Britain to hold a Royal Charter- having been established over 270 years ago. It was originally set up by a group of medical students to act as a forum to further their medical knowledge. This began with the buying of cadaver for dissection; continued with regular visits to their local tavern; and later developed into regular meetings at which they read to each other dissertations on medical subjects. The library of our previous Hall is shown below.

 

As you have surmised, little has changed in quarter of a century! - Medical students still hunger for knowledge; and this is only surpassed by their notorious thirst for alcohol. This being the case, the RMS strives to meet both these needs: meeting weekly for talks given by revered medical specialists on a wide range of clinical topics; followed by a visit to our traditional haunt- Doctors (our local!).

In addition to our weekly meetings we provide a vast a vast array of services to out members- including pre-exam tutorials- which as you can imagine are EXCEEDINGLY popular (Indeed, what are the 2 things that induces an acute anxiety state in a medical student? – exams… and last orders!!!); as well as a syllabus that is packed with social events ; a well stocked medical library; computing facilities; learning resources centre;  in addition to halls that provide a pool table, dart board, widescreen TV, kitchen, shower etc etc etc … the list goes on!

 

So if you want to get the most out of your experience at medical school, join Edinburgh’s Royal Medical Society…