The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) was founded on 22 May 1805 when leading members of the Medical Society of London split from the society to form a new society that would bring together branches of the medical profession "for the purpose of conversation on professional subjects, for the reception of communications and for the formation of a library". It was originally known as The Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. It became the RSM when a number of independent societies merged in 1907 under a new Royal Charter, including the Epidemiological Society founded in 1850, whose members had included John Snow^[1].

Scientists are elected to the Society following nomination and committee review.

It is not to be confused with the older Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, Scotland.

It takes members from a wide range of professions including medicine, dentistry, veterinary sciences and allied healthcare specialities. It also welcomes students members of medicine, dentistry and veterinary science to join. An elite group of physicians or scientists are elected annually to fellowship or as Honorary Fellows. Elected fellows correspond to members of the Institute of Medicine in the USA.

Its main purpose is as a provider of medical education running over 350 meetings and conferences each year.

The headquarters of the RSM are at 1 Wimpole Street, London and contain one of the largest postgraduate medical libraries in Europe. The Society publishes an eponymous Journal, the JRSM.

For those potentially interested in becoming a doctor and wanting to know what it entails, the society also publishes a comprehensive guide to medical school application, entitled A career in medicine.

The society also owns the nearby Chandos House, designed by the eighteenth century architect Robert Adam, which it runs as a venue facility.

On July 15, 2008, Robin C. N. Williamson was appointed as the President of the Society.^[2]

Prior to this, the President of the Society was Professor The Baroness Finlay of Llandaff FRCP FRCGP.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 New Authored Medical Book Award 2 Honorary Fellowships 3 Edward Jenner Medal 3.1 Recipients include 4 Publications 5 References 6 External links 7 See also

[edit] New Authored Medical Book Award

The Society of Authors administers the price annually for medical books published in Britain. The principle aim of the prize is to encourage authors who work in the UK and write for medical students, medical professionals or the general public.

The 2008 New Authored Book Award went to Professor Michael Wilson [2] for his work Bacteriology of Humans: An Ecological Perspective [3].

[edit] Honorary Fellowships

The origins of the Society's Honorary Fellowship may be traced back to the first meeting in 1805 of the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, when the following resolution was passed: 'That Gentlemen who have eminently distinguished themselves in Sciences connected with Medicine, but who are not of the Medical Profession, or do not practise therein, be admissible as Honorary Members'.^[3]. A further resolution elected the following inaugural Honorary Members:^[3]

• Sir Joseph Banks Bt KB,
• Sir Charles Blagden,
• Dr Aikin^[4]
• Humphry Davy Esq,
• Charles Hatchett Esq,
• Edward Charles Howard Esq,
• Smithson Tennant Esq,
• Dr Wollaston

Later Honorary Follows have included:

• Charles Daubeny
• Thomas Huxley
• Richard Owen
• Charles Darwin
• Louis Pasteur
• Sir William Jenner
• Samuel Wilks
• Sigmund Freud
• Sir MacFarlane Burnet: Nobel Prize Winner for Medicine & Physiology
• Sir Richard Doll: Globally recognised authority on smoking and cancer
• Sir Donald Acheson: CMO and spearhead of UN medical relief envoy in Sarajevo
• Prof Jerry Morris: Expert on exercise and cardio-vascular disease
• Sir George Godber: CMO and leading light in health planning & education
• Sir Kenneth Calman: CMO and fundamental restructuring of medical education
• Michael Shepherd CBE - eminent psychiatrist and driving force behind the increased role played by NHS general practitioner in the treatment of patients with psychiatric illness.

[edit] Edward Jenner Medal

The award was founded in 1896 by the Epidemiological Society (1850-1907) to commemorate the centenary of Edward Jenner’s discovery of a means of smallpox vaccination. It is awarded periodically to individuals who have undertaken distinguished work in epidemiological research.

The medal was designed in Bronze by Allan Wyon. It features Jenner’s face on one aspect and the symbol of the Epidemiological Society, the Earth, on the reverse. The medal was re-cast following the evolution of the Society into the Section of Epidemiology at the RSM in 1907. Photographs of the medal may be found in The History of the Royal Society of Medicine^[5] published in 2001.

It was first awarded to Sir William Henry Power who was the then Medical Officer for London and had formulated the theory of aerial conveyance of smallpox and chaired the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis.^[6]

[edit] Recipients include

• William Henry Power (1st-1896)
• Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (2nd-1902)^[7]
• Patrick Manson (3rd-1912):^[8][9]
• Sidney Monckton Copeman (?th-1925 or 1935)^[10]
• Thomas Henry Craig Stevenson (? uncertain, before 1933, see ref)^[11]
• Arthur Newsholme (?th-1938)^[12][13]
• AT Glenny (?th-1953): for contributions to diphtheria immunisation
• Leonard Colebrook (?th-1962)^[10][14]
• Alexander D Langmuir (17th-1979)^[15][16]
• Richard Doll (?th-1981): for outstanding studies on the epidemiology of cancer
• Karel Raška (?th-1984)^[17]
• N Spence Galbraith (21st-before 1991)^[18][19]
• Donald Acheson (?th-1993): for the advancement of public health
• Donald Henderson (?th-1996): for work towards worldwide eradication of smallpox
• Rosemary Rue (?th-2001): first woman president of the Faculty of Community Medicine (now the Faculty of Public Health) and pioneer of women in medicine

[edit] Publications

The Royal Society of Medicine Press is the publishing arm of the RSM. Growing rapidly in recent years it is now recognised as one of the leading medical society publishers. RSM Press publishes books, journals and online resources for health professionals in training and in practice.

As of June 2008, the Royal Society of Medicine launched an online postgraduate exam revision site: examdoctor. This new resource is aimed at helping postgraduates through the Royal College and other professional exams.

• 1809 - 1907: Medico-Chirurgical Transactions (Med. Chir. Trans)
• 1908 - 1977: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine
• 1978 - present: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.rsmpress.co.uk/bkhunting.htm , pages 171-172.
2. ^ "News". Royal Society of Medicine. http://www.roysocmed.ac.uk/members/news.php. Retrieved 2009-01-11. 
3. ^ ^{a b} K Newton, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 84, April 1991, page 245
4. ^ It is not certain whether 'Aikin' is Charles Rochemont Aikin, Arthur Aikin, or John Aikin, author of 'Biographical memoirs of medicine in Great Britain'.
5. ^ http://www.rsmpress.co.uk/bkhunting.htm
6. ^ http://History of the section of Epidemiology & Public Health http://www.rsm.ac.uk/academ/downloads/ep-public-history.pdf
7. ^ Biography in book at http://www.niph.go.jp/toshokan/koten/Britain/PDF/100717210017.pdf
8. ^ Proc R Soc Med. 1912; 5(Sect Epidemiol State Med): 149. [1]
9. ^ http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/37/4044.htm
10. ^ ^{a b} Proc R Soc Med. 1962 October; 55(10): 850. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1896896
11. ^ M.G. Obituary. Thomas Henry Craig Stevenson. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol. 96, No. 1 (1933), pp. 151-156
12. ^ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v142/n3589/abs/142287b0.html
13. ^ http://www.ajph.org/cgi/reprint/28/10/1260.pdf
14. ^ Dunn PM. Dr Leonard Colebrook, FRS (1883–1967) and the chemotherapeutic conquest of puerperal infection. Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition 2008;93:F246-F248.
15. ^ http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/8/3/293
16. ^ Oakley CL. Leonard Colebrook. 1883-1967 Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol. 17, (Nov., 1971), pp. 91-138
17. ^ Cent Eur J Public Health 2007; 15 (3): 127. http://www1.szu.cz/svi/cejph/archiv/2007-3-08.pdf
18. ^ http://Obituary 2008: www.lshtm.ac.uk/alumni/Dr%20Spence%20Galbraith.htm
19. ^ http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/13/3/219

[edit] External links

• RSM website
• RSM Press website
• examdoctor website
• Chandos House website
• JRSM website
• The Medical Society of London

[edit] See also

• List of Royal Societies