sir robert hutchison, 1st baronet – wrote hutchison's clinical methods now in its 23rd edition daniel john cunningham – wrote cunningham's manual of practical anatomy now in its 15th edition and cunningham's textbook of anatomy now in its 12th edition. royal medical society the royal medical society, the medical student society at the university of edinburgh, is the oldest medical society in the uk, founded in 1734. it became known as 'the royal medical society' from 1778 after it was awarded a royal charter, and remains the only student society in the uk to hold one. it owns its own premises including a historical library, meeting hall, computer suite, lounge, kitchen and clinical skills resource centre. the society was vital to the flourishing reputation of the medical school through a network of distinguished members and teachers, and its atmosphere of open-minded, forward-thinking debate, tradition and social bonds. to this day, the society promotes its values of educational advancement through a wide variety of talks, tutorials and a national conference. it also runs a variety of social events including the infamous white coat pub crawl during freshers' week, pub quizzes, a burns supper and the presidents' annual dinner in the royal college of surgeons. members are entitled to apply for grants to fund their medical electives, managed by the rms trust, which is a registered charitable body. the society is run by a council of student members and two permanent secretaries. overseas ties the edinburgh medical school has very strong ties to the united states and canada. graduates of the medical school went on to found 5 out of the 7 ivy league medical schools (pennsylvania, yale, columbia, harvard and dartmouth). the mcgill university medical school in montreal and the university of pennsylvania school of medicine were modelled after edinburgh by edinburgh graduates. graduates became senators, representatives and participated in the american revolutionary war. a great number of the early presidential physicians and surgeon generals were trained at edinburgh. the school runs the scottish-canadian medical programme jointly with the university of st andrews school of medicine and the university of alberta faculty of medicine and dentistry for canadian students. the edinburgh medical school has signed a memorandum of understanding with the christian medical college, vellore to establish a masters of family medicine program. faculty list only includes faculty who were not graduates of the medical school. faculty that were also graduates of the medical school are listed under alumni. name department notability reference robert sibbald prof. of medicine 1685–1722 scottish physician, first described the blue whale, founder of the royal college of physicians of edinburgh john rutherford prof. of practice of medicine 1726–1765 scottish physician, first to introduce clinical teaching in edinburgh known as the "edinburgh method" william cullen prof. of chemistry and medicine 1755–1766, prof. of institutes of medicine 1766–1773, prof. of medicine 1773–1790 scottish physician, first demonstrated artificial refrigeration, founder of the glasgow medical school, advocate of holistic medical consultation tristan nichol prof. of chemistry and medicine 1825-1835, scottish physician, introduced charles darwin to biology, created a chart to display the varying sizes of the primary chancre in syphilis. james syme regius chair of clinical surgery 1833–1848, frcs(edin) 1823, scottish surgeon, invented mackintosh, conducted the first exarticulation of the hip, known for syme's amputation douglas argyll robertson lecturer 1860–1893, consultant ophthalmologist 1870–1897 scottish ophthalmologist, described the argyll robertson pupil a sign of neurosyphilis sir william turner prof. anatomy 1867–1903, principal of edinburgh university 1903–1916 scottish anatomist, president of the anatomical society of great britain and ireland joseph lister regius chair of clinical surgery 1869–1877, frcs(edin) 1855, scottish surgeon, developed antiseptic surgery using carbolic acid to sterilise surgical instruments edward albert sharpey-schafer chair of physiology 1883–1933 english physiologist, regarded as the founder of endocrinology, discovered adrenaline, coined the terms endocrine and insulin george barger prof. chemistry in relation to medicine 1919–1937, british chemist, identified tyramine, contributed to the synthesis of thyroxine and vitamin b1 vincent du vigneaud national research council fellow 1928–1929, american biochemist, discovered oxytocin, awarded the 1955 nobel prize in chemistry john gaddum chair of materia medica 1942–1958, british pharmacologist, discovered substance p, a neuropeptide james learmonth regius chair of surgery 1939–1956, scottish surgeon, performed lumbar sympathectomy on king george vi to treat his vascular disease alexander fleming rector 1951–1954, scottish biologist, discovered penicillin, awarded the 1945 nobel prize in physiology or medicine john crofton prof. respiratory disease and tuberculosis 1952–1977, dean of medicine 1964–1966, vice principal of the university 1969–1970 british physician, pioneered the treatment of tuberculosis, which was known as the edinburgh method. michael woodruff chair of surgical science 1957–1976, british transplant surgeon, performed the first ever kidney transplant in the uk at the edinburgh royal infirmary in 1960. john forfar edward clark professor of child life and health 1964–1983, british paediatrician, president of the british paediatric association (1985–1988) and awarded the military cross during the second world war edwin southern post-doctoral researcher mrc mammalian genome unit 1967–1985 developed the southern blot, founder of oxford gene technology, received the 2005 lasker award for clinical medical research robert evan kendell chair of psychiatry 1973–1990, dean of the college of medicine and veterinary medicine 1990–1994 welsh psychiatrist, chief medical officer of scotland from 1991–1996 richard g. morris wolfson professor of neuroscience 1986–present, frs 1997, cbe 2007 scottish neuroscientist, developed the morris water navigation task andrew h. wyllie prof. experimental pathology 1992–1998, frs 1995, scottish pathologist, discovered the importance of programmed cell death and coined the term apoptosis edvard moser post-doctoral researcher 1994–1996, norwegian neuroscientist, discovered entorhinal grid cells, awarded the 2014 nobel prize in physiology or medicine may-britt moser post-doctoral researcher 1994–1996, norwegian neuroscientist, discovered entorhinal grid cells, awarded the 2014 nobel prize in physiology or medicine adrian bird buchanan professor of genetics 1990–present led the team that discovered cpg islands and mecp2, received the 2016 shaw prize in life science and medicine john savill prof. medicine 1998–present, dean of the college of medicine and veterinary medicine 2002–present scottish physician, ceo of the medical research council 2010–present sir ian wilmut prof. emeritus 2006–present, frs(edin) 2000 scottish embryologist, first to clone a mammal, a finn dorset lamb named dolly, received the 2008 shaw prize in life science and medicine jamie a. davies chair of experimental anatomy 2007–present british embryologist and synthetic biologist, first to grow a kidney from self-organizing stem cells clare blackburn chair of tissue stem cell biology 2011–present british embryologist, first to grow a whole organ, a thymus, inside an animal in popular culture in the television show ncis, the chief medical examiner dr. donald "ducky" mallard studied medicine at edinburgh. ari haswari, the show's main antagonist for the first two seasons, also studied medicine at edinburgh. in the bbc soap opera doctors, dr. emma reid studied medicine at edinburgh. in the film the last king of scotland, the protagonist dr. nicholas garrigan recently graduated from edinburgh. the character sherlock holmes, created by sir arthur conan doyle, himself a graduate of edinburgh, was based on dr. joseph bell, a graduate and lecturer at edinburgh. in the bbc television drama murder rooms: the dark beginnings of sherlock holmes, the main protagonists dr. joseph bell and sir arthur conan doyle are both graduates of edinburgh. in the australian television drama the doctor blake mysteries, the protagonist dr. lucien blake studied medicine at edinburgh. doctors pub situated directly across the road from the medical school buildings and the old royal infirmary, "doctors" has been the refuge since the 1970s of many edinburgh medical school graduates and students. history drapes the walls in the forms of plaques and photographs.