Written by Cate Goldwater Breheny Do you know when Holocaust Memorial Day is? In my experience, not many people do. Your old school may have made it the subject of an assembly, but it is otherwise often forgotten. Holocaust Memorial Day falls on the 27th of January, marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945. Nearly…

Written by Adina Smith It was around halfway through sitting the BMAT for the second time, whilst quickly calculating just how much money was earned from an unnecessarily complicated cake stall, that I started to doubt whether my decision to go to medical school over art school had actually been a sensible one. I have always had these two main…

If you have been scrolling through Instagram in recent weeks, it will have been hard to miss the growing success of Amber and Simi’s new campaign. Their page, @medschool_racism, has impressed us with its reach and engagement, publishing stories from medical students and healthcare professionals from the UK and beyond. The pair have created a platform which is drawing attention…

On a Sunday afternoon in February, Ahmaud Arbery went on a run in his local neighbourhood – something he had done many times before. However, this was to be his last run. He was fatally shot, after being pursued by, father and son, Gregory and Travis McMichael. They claimed to have thought that Arbery was a burglar and believed he…

I find myself writing this on the 19th day since the Head of Undergraduate Medicine wrote to us all with guidance about our teaching and exams given the COVID-19 pandemic. When I opened that email, I read the first paragraph and then skimmed the rest until my eyes came to the assessment section: year 6 written paper to be postponed,…

The Oxford English Dictionary describes wellbeing as the state of being comfortable, healthy or happy, the application of wellbeing is rooted in a myriad of factors; wellbeing is not fleeting, but it’s more of a constant state of living. Taking care of one’s welfare doesn’t only involve discussing a personal issue, going to a wellbeing workshop or reading articles –…

Being a second generation immigrant often means you are raised bilingual, and switching between languages is a part of life. Often it is easy to fall into dismissing the weight and significance of what you’re doing or the unique effect it can have on people. Language is a representation of the people that speak it; it will tell you where…

On the 3rd of October 2019 President Vladimir Putin shifted in his seat, looked around at the audience he found himself in front of at the Energy conference in Moscow and told them: “I may disappoint you, but I don’t share everyone’s enthusiasm about Greta Thunberg’s speech… nobody explained to Greta that the modern world is complicated and complex.” He…

London excites me. It reeks of promise, of memories to be made and experiences to be found. Unlike so many places this city is not satisfied by simply acting as the stage for stories to be written. It moulds them. It seeps into the very fabric of their construction. And how could it not? Its personality is as pervasive as…

On a Monday morning back in August, I awoke in a sluggish stupor. This was quite typical post my summer slumbers, which lasted an unhealthy average of 10 hours. Before my feet could hit the floor my thumb had begun its bi-hourly ritual of swiping through my social media feed, desperate to prevent a scenario where the latest holiday pictures…

Imperial College London. When I received my acceptance letter this time last year, I couldn’t believe it. I remember the morning of results day like it was yesterday, anxiously checking UCAS, realising that the days and weeks and months of endless work had finally, finally paid off. Honestly, it feels like first year has been and gone in a flash.…

 So you’ve got your results, you’ve packed your bags and you’re counting down the days until you step onto campus. In less than a month you’ll be a medical student, and hopefully that thought is one not of trepidation, but of excitement. In the last year I’ve dissected a thorax, learned more enzymes than I thought possible, and come out…

The laying of the foundation stone on 30 June 1931 of the current medical school building at St Mary’s by the then Duchess of York, president of the Hospital and later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, was of such national and even international importance that the speech of the former prime minister Stanley Baldwin was broadcast to the world by…

 A surprise announcement of Imperial’s intention to sell the St Mary’s medical school building has invoked anger from ICSM students and alumni. The student body was informed of the decision on 25th July via an email sent on behalf of Professor Alice Gast (Imperial College President), Professor Ian Walmsley (Imperial College Provost) and Professor Jonathan Weber (Dean, Faculty of Medicine). …

Two months ago, on the 3rd of June, tragedy struck. Pro-democracy protestors in Khartoum, who were calling for a majority civilian controlled interim government, were brutally cracked down on by the military, leaving 100 people dead and 500 wounded.  The violence, essentially large-scale pre-meditated murder, was carried out under orders of the Transitional Military Council who had took over after…

Hundreds of voices fervently repeated this same word over and over; the extent of emotion and weight behind the sound was profound. Translating to ‘freedom’ in Kashmiri, ‘azadi’ encapsulates the plight of a people forced to fight for their liberty and fundamental rights. Trafalgar Square was adorned by vibrant splashes of orange and green as protestors waved Kashmiri flags; others…

Podcasts can be a great way to pass the time as a med student, and we have put together a list of 10 podcasts that will educate, inspire and aid in your years in medical school. There are plenty more podcasts out there and we recommend if you haven’t got into any yet you have a search on spotify and…

Benjamin Golding, the founder of Charing Cross Hospital, was born, the son of a prosperous tanner,  on 7 September1793 at St Osyth near Clacton. In 1811 he began his study of medicine at the University of Edinburgh and in 1815 enrolled at St Thomas’ to complete his medical training.  He also received his MD from the University of St Andrews…

(adapted from Nursing Churchill: Wartime Life from the Private Letters of Winston Churchill’s Nurse, by Jill Rose, Foreword by the Hon Emma Soames. Amberley Press: 15 June 2018) The son of a Presbyterian minister,  my father Roger Miles was blessed with an amiable personality, a wry sense of humour and a well-developed notion of fair play. He was an enthusiastic,…

Ronald David Gregg Tunbridge was born on the 4thDecember 1941 and died on the 17thFebruary 2016 at the age of 74. He came to St Mary’s in 1962 after a short period as a Laboratory Technician in the Almroth Wright Institute. He joined an intake of thirty students from very diverse backgrounds entering their 1stMB year.  Some had come from…