Research
Birmingham Medical School’s focus is on providing an exemplary medical education for its students. We maintain high standards in education through research undertaken into pedagogy and education, constantly refining and improving our curriculum and educational delivery.
Birmingham Medical School, through its education-focused research, has pioneered innovations such as SCRIPT, an innovative eLearning programme designed to encourage safe and effective prescribing and medicines management among newly-qualified doctors and other healthcare professionals. Developed by the University of Birmingham, SCRIPT seeks to eliminate the 8-10% error rate in trainee doctor prescribing estimated to cost the NHS £750 million each year.
We are also exploring how we can better support the healthcare professionals of the future through SHarPS (Student Healthcare Professionals Study), a longitudinal study that follows students from admission to their degree. By tracking their time with us and their future healthcare profession of choice, we are learning more about our students, the guiding principle being that the more we know about our students, the better able we are to support them as they progress through their programme of study.
World-class research
Your medical education will benefit from the wealth of the College of Medical and Dental Sciences’ world-class research into areas as diverse as genome biology, musculoskeletal ageing and cancer immunology. The Birmingham Medical School is located in the Institute of Clinical Sciences which boasts specialists research across its schools of Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Biomedical Science and Medicine. Due to its unique location within a large research environment, students of Birmingham Medical School benefit from the direct impact of the latest research breakthroughs in their medical education.
Read our latest research news, research which ensures our teaching is at the cutting-edge of knowledge, knowledge which is critical to ensuring the future of medicine and healthcare.
Latest research news

Latest research has found that rilmenidine, a drug used to treat hypertension, can be used to slow ageing and extend lifespan.

Patients with early stage colon cancer benefit from 6 weeks of chemotherapy before surgery

New and innovative ways to detect and treat cancer being trialled at Birmingham are to receive renewed funding from Cancer Research UK and the NIHR.

JMCC PLUS publishes fundamental and translational research that advances knowledge of the mechanisms for normal and diseased cardiovascular function.

Discovery could lead to new therapies for neurological disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis

School of Pharmacy staff member helping to provide a warm space for the homeless

Researchers who identified a novel mechanism for platelet activation in blood clotting (thrombosis) are now turning their attention to sepsis

Patients, parents, charities and healthcare professionals agree key focuses for future research for disease affecting around half a million in UK

Largest analysis of perinatal outcomes finds disparities in outcomes based on race and ethnicity in high and upper-middle income countries

Across 2022, Professor Jo Morris, from the Institute of Cancer and Genomics, has secured more than £4.9 million to better understand DNA replication and repair.

Two University of Birmingham researchers have been awarded prestigious Medical Research Council (MRC) clinical fellowships this year.

The validated Symptom Burden Questionnaire™ for Long COVID (SBQ™-LC) will help medical researchers develop or test new treatments.