Last summer was an exciting time for Biomedical Sciences in the College. The School for Biomedical Sciences was officially launched; a reflection of the strength of the undergraduate Biomedical Science programme, formerly known as the BMedSc programme and the pioneering Biomedical Research conducted in the Institute of Clinical Sciences.

The Biomedical Science programme over the last five years has undergone a radical transformation with a renewed curriculum which fosters a close integration with biomedical excellence in the college. The success of the programme is exemplified by successful accreditation by the Royal Society of Biology; a professional body that recognises excellence in the Life Sciences. The School is now building on this success by creating a four year integrated Masters programme which will be offered at the start of the 2021/2022 academic year. The School is also keen to develop its partnership with industry to further develop its research activity and to also ensure that the educational programmes offered remain current, innovative and closely aligned to the expectations of employers in the Biomedical sector. In particular the undergraduate programme already has close partnerships with Reckitt Benckiser and Abbott; multi-national healthcare providers, and a co-created enterprise module has won prestigious national awards.

Based on this platform of success the School is thus actively seeking to identify other industry partners to build on our research excellence and to enhance the opportunity for students to undertake industry placement opportunities, be it summer or year long. Similarly, the School is developing its international profile through strong partnerships with international centres of excellence including the University of Tours in France and also Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China. As well as some preliminary research collaborations many of our students have already benefitted from this partnership with summer visits and similarly we have welcomed students from Tours and HUST to Birmingham. The School of Biomedical Sciences is also responsible for delivering Anatomy across all the college programmes and also runs the Birmingham International Summer School; a three week long summer programme which profiles the research depth and breadth in our School and the opportunities that exist for post graduate research.

The core of our School strategy is to build on the excellence in Widening Participation and Outreach which already exists. Most pertinently we continue to support students from diverse backgrounds removing barriers and in doing so allowing them to access a Birmingham University education. In part this will be achieved by further growing our portfolio of outreach activities and partnerships with local schools including the University of Birmingham School. We aim to continue working with students and teachers, in our region and beyond, to raise aspirations and provide activities and support to assist students from these groups to reach their potential. Ultimately, through such a strategy we will actively recruit the brightest local talent from backgrounds that are currently under-represented in biomedical science.

The key to the success of our new School is the further development of our internationally leading cross-disciplinary research which achieves real-world impact. In particular in addition to our research in Biomedical Education and Widening Participation the School has strength in i) Integrative Physiology a subject with a rich pedigree at the University of Birmingham. This is represented by well-established groupings investigating Early Evidence of Cardio-respiratory Disease and preventative Interventions, Autonomic Neurotransmission in Heart, Blood Vessels and Bladder and by the highly successful Arterial Chemoreceptor and Hypoxia Grouping and ii) Translational Biomedical Research which includes research into 3-D imaging of congenitally malformed hearts which aims to make surgical intervention safer, drug re-purposing for novel treatments of blood cancers which has resulted in clinical trials in both the UK and in Africa, and the development of encapsulated microbial formulations for the treatment of a range of gastrointestinal diseases including inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer.

For more information about the School, staff profiles and forthcoming events visit the School of Biomedical Sciences site.

If you are a Biomedical Science alumni would you able interested in getting involved in the educational and research delivery in the School of Biomedical Sciences? For example would you be interested in:

• Offering summer or yearlong placements to Biomedical Science students?
• Sharing your experience post-graduation to our current students and or be willing to be showcased on our web pages?
• Discussing with our Educational leads about module development and or engagement with current module offerings including the enterprise and commercialisation module and a forthcoming global challenges module

If interested in engaging with any of the exciting opportunities above please feel free to contact the Head of School at c.tselepis@bham.ac.uk and we look forward to talking with you.