big numbers of uk doctors coming back to the country, polish doctors were in a difficult position. the situation was even more challenging because initially the polish school of medicine degrees were not recognised by the general medical council. the situation changed on 18 december 1947, when the british parliament passed (approved?) the medical practitioners and pharmacists act, 1947 which allowed psm alumni to register and work as doctors in the uk. with the limited possibilities for satisfactory positions in great britain many psm graduates ended up working outside europe within the commonwealth (i.e. henryk podlewski, lukasz kulczycki, jean kryszek, wladyslaw aleksander wielhorski). overall eventually 128 doctors settled in great britain. some of them were very successful in their medical careers. professor henryk urich became the head of the department of neuropathology within the london hospital medical school. henryk maslowski was the head of neurosurgery in manchester. at least 11 graduates remained or returned to edinburgh after a period in the british colonial service – józef goldberg, kazimierz durkacz, stefan adamczewski, dawid becher, władysław kluger, maria dobroszycka, janina ciekałowska, władysław koźmiński, kazimierz kuczyński, krystyna munk, tadeusz michał kraszewski (after returning from borneo) and wiktor tomaszewski. many of the graduates stayed in the far east and africa (jean kryszek), a big number of alumni settled in the united states and canada. eighteen graduates of the psm decided to return to poland after their studies. some of them later continued as academics obtaining their mds, phds and eventually becoming professors. dr olech szczepski was the head of the department of paediatrics at the poznan university of medical sciences, became a professor and served as the rector of that university. doctor antoni kepinski was the head of the psychiatry department at the jagiellonian university in cracow. he is the founder of information metabolism which is a psychological theory of human social interactions based on information processing. legacy in 1966 the graduates of the psm held their first worldwide reunion. since then they have held similar gatherings in edinburgh every 5 years thus keeping the spirit of the school alive and maintaining their friendship and close links with the university of edinburgh. during the 2016 anniversary celebrations the university of edinburgh chancellors presented honorary degrees to 3 individuals who have played a key role in keeping the spirit of the school alive and developing the academic links between edinburgh university and polish medical universities and research institutes. the school's coordinator dr maria dlugolecka-graham, the president of poznan university of medical sciences, professor jacek wysocki and the vice-rektor of the jagiellonian university, professor piotr laidler were presented with this award. in 1986 on the 45th anniversary of the founding of the polish school the graduates set up the polish school of medicine memorial fund. an initiative that was intended to acknowledge the tremendous help the university had given to poles during wwii and to foster links between the university of edinburgh and polish medical universities. income from the fund provides scholarships for talented polish medical scientists working in polish medical universities and research institutes to come to edinburgh to undertake further study or research. up to date over 80 polish medical scientists have benefited from the scheme. the fund also supports the professor antoni jurasz lectureship, allowing a nominated head of department from edinburgh medical school to give a lecture in poznan and one other polish medical university. also during the 1986 reunion dr wiktor tomaszewski, who had been a senior member of staff at the psm and then became edinburgh gp, established the polish school of medicine historical collection. the collection is now under the care of edinburgh university collections division. it contains many medals of medical interest, sculptures, paintings, photographs and books about the school, and other artefacts. many of the items were donated by polish medical universities, former students, staff and graduates of the polish school and by dr tomaszewski himself. part of the collection is on view in the polish room within the chancellor's building at the little france campus of the university of edinburgh.