Pre-Clinical DCS Report Prof Robert Wilkins

Pre-clinical School News

Professor Robert Wilkins

(St Catherine’s College, 1990) Director of Pre-Clinical Studies, Course Director of the Biomedical Sciences Programme, Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, and Tutorial Fellow at St Edmund Hall

Large Physiology Lecture Theatre with new air conditioning system. Recently renamed ‘Blakemore Lecture Theatre’ after Professor Sir Colin Blakemore (RIP 27.6.22)

When I last wrote in Michaelmas term 2021, I hoped the academic year would proceed smoothly, although I anticipated some bumps along the way. As I write this brief report, in the middle of Trinity-term, third year students are sitting Finals, second year students are anxiously waiting for the results of the 1st BM papers taken at the start of the term, while teaching of first years is winding down as they settle into revision for their exams in mid-June. For the first time in three summers, Trinity term is proceeding as usual, and that is very pleasing to report!

All teaching has returned to pre-pandemic formats - inperson, whole cohort, mask-free - with online delivery only retained in a small number of instances for pedagogic reasons. (One silver lining of the pandemic lockdowns was the discovery that some material could be more effectively delivered online.) Pre-clinical students are once more able to studying collaboratively in the Medical Sciences Teaching Centre between teaching sessions. After the upgrade to the ventilation system, teaching has resumed in the anatomy suite, bolstered by the appointment of two Clinical Anatomists by the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, who are providing an excellent - and highly appreciated - anatomical education for our pre-clinical students. Sharmila and Rumyana have already made several innovative changes to the way that we deliver teaching in this area, and plans are afoot to start using virtual reality headsets to enhance students’ experience further.

As the academic year draws to a close, we turn our attention to recruiting the next generation of medical students, with in-person Open Days in late June and the resumption of the residential UNIQ Summer Schools after a two-year online hiatus.

Finally, we have welcomed two new members of staff to the Undergraduate Studies Office in the MSTC: Louise Taylor has been recruited to the role of Senior Administrative Officer, with responsibility for admissions and year 3 of the course, while Olivia Kemsley has been appointed to a newly-created Academic Administrator role. That takes the headcount in the office to six, a far cry from the days that many of you will remember when Glenys Davies ran the pre-clinical course single-handedly, but reflective of the increasing internal and external administrative and regulatory requirements associated with delivery of the course.