From the Head of School

Welcome to the School of Medical Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales.

The School of Medical Sciences is the largest School in the Faculty of Medicine, and one of the largest at UNSW. It is a vibrant school, a place of work for over 200 staff, more than one hundred higher degree students, and many thousands of undergraduate students. The School occupies the Wallace Wurth (Medicine) building at UNSW, and is physically linked to both the Lowy Cancer Centre and the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences. Core research facilities exist within this Biomedical Science precinct to fully support virtually all contemporary forms of biomedical research.

We are a young school, formed in 2001 following the amalgamation of the previous Schools of Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology and Pathology. We have been able to draw on the rich heritage of research and teaching excellence in each of these former Schools. Over time we have been able to integrate these disciplines, thereby providing exciting learning opportunities for our students, and to creating innovative research collaborations amongst our staff.

Our School is vitally involved in teaching, research and community education activities. We boast a comprehensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate education programs. These share a major emphasis on applied and clinical teaching of the basic sciences and their application to medicine and biology.
The School is proud of its excellence in biomedical research, and has particular strengths in the areas of neurosciences, molecular biology and molecular pharmacology, inflammation and infectious disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. In each of these areas, there are extensive research opportunities for students. We are also proud of our community outreach programs, lead by the Museum of Human Disease, which each year attracts over 10,000 visitors to our campus.

Members of the School of Medical Sciences welcome enquiries from students, researchers and colleagues and I encourage you to take advantage of our enquiry facility which is available on every page of this website. Whatever your interest – whether it is in basic medical sciences, clinical medicine or therapeutics, I am sure you will find something of interest here.

Nick Hawkins
Professor and Head
School of Medical Sciences