University of Sunderland’s new School of Medicine opens

The University of Sunderland has welcomed its first medical students as the doors opened on its new School of Medicine in a watershed moment for the city and the North East.

The School, which saw 50 students arrive to embark on their journey to become a qualified doctor, hopes to help tackle a shortage of doctors and encourage students to stay and work in the region's hospitals.

Sunderland was chosen last year as one of five places in England to open new medical schools, with former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt stressing that the new schools were in areas where it ‘can be hard to attract new doctors’. The university will now offer a full cycle of health programmes from paramedic training and nursing to pharmacy and, now, medicine. In total, 2019/20 will see more than 2,000 health professionals of the future going through the university’s doors.

Sir David Bell, chief executive of the university, said: “I’m delighted to be welcoming our first cohort of students to the Sunderland School of Medicine. It is an exciting time for the women and men involved as they embark on the demanding journey to become a doctor.

“Offering a medical degree is further demonstration of the crucially important work done at, and by, the University of Sunderland. We now have a full suite of health-related disciplines which, this year, will be educating more than 2,000 future professionals. All of them will have a positive and powerful effect on the health of the city and the wider region.”