Wessex: Southampton

All of the first year placements are based in the Department of Cellular Pathology in Southampton. The Department has been reconstructed and extended and provides an excellent working environment for the hundred or so members of staff. The Department is a combined National Health Service and Academic Unit. At present there are 19 Consultant Histopathologists. Southampton has recently become a NHS Foundation Trust.

The University of Southampton School of Medicine

The University of Southampton has a strong reputation for international research, especially in fields such as Chemistry, Engineering, Optoelectronics, Sound and Vibration Research and Music.

The University was originally founded as the Hartley Institution in 1862 and the Queen granted its own Royal Charter in 1952.  The University of Southampton School of Medicine was opened in 1972.  Since its inception it has pioneered new methods of training medical students.

Features of the course include early clinical contact and problem based learning.  Facilities for research have been considerably expanded and developed in recent years.  There are two large new buildings in the General Hospital site devoted to Cancer Research and Developmental Origins of Disease.  The research divisions of Neurological Science and Inflammation, Infection and Repair have new laboratories which are close to the Pathology Department.  All Wessex Histopathology trainees are encouraged to complete a postgraduate certificate in Medical Education.  There are also opportunities for PhD studentships. 

The School of Medicine is genuinely grateful for the contribution that Histopathology registrars make to the teaching programme.  Pathology is taught from the beginning of Year 1.  All registrars have their own group of 12 students who they meet for tutorials approximately 12 times in the first year.  The feedback from the students on the quality of tutorials provided by registrars is uniformly high.