Course overview

BA (3 years) BM BCh (6 years)

Typical intake: 6

With separate pre-clinical and clinical sections to the course, students on the Oxford standard medical course first gain a comprehensive grounding in medical science, before applying that scientific foundation in the clinical setting.

The medical course comprises two components, the first concerned with basic understanding of physiological sciences necessary for later clinical work, and the second with more advanced study of optional subjects allowing a more critical approach to published scientific work. These components and their integration are kept under continuous review to ensure that the content of the course keeps pace with advances in medical research and is consistent with the advice of the General Medical Council. In particular, the initial part of the course leading to the qualification of 1st BM has been designed to concentrate on what are considered to be core principles of physiological sciences, pruning away excessive detail. Nevertheless, the course remains intellectually challenging, and work in tutorials is designed to help the student understand and assimilate the required material.

The more advanced study which forms the Final Honours School component of the course leading to the BA degree is comparable to that carried out for an intercalated BSc at other medical schools; since at Oxford all students are expected to take this part of the course, we are keen to select pupils who have the interest and enthusiasm to undertake such work in the subjects they choose. Tutorials in this part of the course are given by experts in the chosen fields of study, and undergraduates have the opportunity to work with appropriate tutors at other colleges.

There is a strict quota for candidates admitted to this course in line with General Medical Council guidelines, and the places are shared approximately equally among colleges. The number accepted at Worcester is six per year. After completing the 3-year BA in Medical Sciences, the graduate makes a separate application either to the Oxford Clinical School, in which case they may remain at Worcester, or to another clinical school, such as those at London or Cambridge. The College has lecturers in Human Anatomy, Neuroscience and Pathology who help with the teaching for 1st BM.

"All the tutors are really friendly and are only too keen to give you help and advice. Their tutorials can be a great opportunity to extend your knowledge beyond the core parts of the course with a particular focus upon the experiments that have led to our understanding of a process as well as its clinical relevance."
Tom, second-year Medicine student

Fellows

Headshot of Kim Dora

Fellow & Tutor in Medicine

Professor Kim Dora

Headshot of Kim Dora

Professor Kim Dora

Fellow & Tutor in Medicine

Professor of Microvascular Pharmacology

BHF Senior Basic Science Research Fellow

Education

BSc (ANU), PhD (Tasmania), MA (Oxford)

Professor Dora is a Fellow in Physiological Sciences (Pharmacology) and her research interests focus on cell-cell communication in resistance arteries. Predominantly focusing on signalling pathways within the endothelium, she uses sophisticated and novel techniques to monitor rapid changes in intracellular Ca2+ and how they link to the activation of dilator pathways.

Headshot of John Parrington

Rank Foundation-Netherthorpe Memorial Fellow & Tutor in Medicine

Professor John Parrington

Headshot of John Parrington

Professor John Parrington

Rank Foundation-Netherthorpe Memorial Fellow & Tutor in Medicine

Associate Professor in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology

Head of Research (Sciences)

Education

MA (Cambridge), MA (Oxford), PhD (London)

Dr Parrington is a Fellow in Physiological Sciences (Pharmacology) and his research interests are molecular mechanisms of reproduction and early embryogenesis, the role of calcium signals in mediating key physiological events, and genomic and proteomic approaches to understanding cell signalling.

Headshot of Andrew Price

Professor of Orthopaedics Surgery

Professor Andrew Price

Headshot of Andrew Price

Professor Andrew Price FRCS

Professor of Orthopaedics Surgery

Supernumerary Fellow

Education

BA (Cambridge), MB BChir (London), MA DPhil (Oxford)

Professor Andrew Price studied medicine at the University of Cambridge (Gonville and Caius College) before completing his clinical studies at St.Thomas’ Hospital in London. For his Orthopaedic training he joined the Oxford training programme in 1997, becoming a Clinical Lecturer in NDORMS in 2001.

He was awarded a DPhil in 2003 through the University of Oxford (Worcester College), studying the Oxford partial knee replacement. He then completed a year of specialist Knee Fellowship training in Melbourne, returning to NDORMs and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in 2004, where he was subsequently appointed Reader and Honorary Consultant in Knee Surgery.

In 2011, through the University of Oxford Recognition of Distinction exercise, he was made a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at NDORMS. His clinical work as a Consultant Knee Surgeon is based at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, where he has recently been appointed to Clinical Director T&O. His research is based in NDORMS at the Botnar Centre, where he Leads the Knee Research Group.

Andrew is Fellow of Worcester College (Tutor for Graduate Entry Medical Studies), a member of the British Orthopaedic Association, member of the UK National Joint Registry Steering Committee and Past President of the British Association for Surgery of the Knee (BASK).

Headshot of Robert Watson

Fellow & Director of Graduate Entry Medicine

Dr Robert Watson

Headshot of Robert Watson

Dr Robert Watson MRCP

Fellow & Director of Graduate Entry Medicine

Clinical Lecturer, Department of Oncology

Supernumerary Fellow

Education

BA(Hons), BM BCh, PGDip, DPhil

I studied medicine at Oxford (Worcester and GTC), graduating with a First Class and Distinction, before undertaking the Academic Foundation Programme in North West London where I worked as a junior doctor alongside conducting primary care research at Imperial College. I then took a career break and worked for The Nuffield Trust healthcare policy think tank and as a volunteer doctor in Blantyre, Malawi. I returned to Oxford in 2016 to take up an Academic Clinical Fellowship in medical oncology and was appointed a Lecturer in Medicine at Worcester. Following this I undertook a DPhil (PhD) in Oxford, and am now completing higher specialty training in Medical Oncology, alongside conducting Postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford. I was appointed as a Supernumerary Fellow of Worcester College in 2024.

Lecturers

Headshot of Addala Dinesh

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Dinesh Addala

Headshot of Addala Dinesh

Dr Dinesh Addala MRCP

College Lecturer in Medicine

Education

BA BM BCh (Oxford)

College Lecturer in Medicine

Professor Brian Angus

Professor Brian Angus FRCP FFTM

College Lecturer in Medicine

Professor and Reader in Infectious Diseases

Director of the Oxford Centre for Clinical Tropical Medicine and Global Health

Education

BSc, MB ChB, DTM&H

Professor Brian Angus is the Director of the Oxford Centre for Clinical Tropical Medicine and Global Health. He joined the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine in 1993 and originally worked in Thailand and Ghana studying pharmacokinetics in severe malaria and melioidosis. His research focus is now on clinical trials and vaccine development in COVID, malaria, influenza, HIV, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and enteric fever. He is Clinical Tutor in Medicine and Associate Professor and Reader in Infectious Diseases at the University of Oxford. He holds an honorary Senior Clinical Scientist title at the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit (MRC CTU).

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Elspeth Cumber

Dr Elspeth Cumber

College Lecturer in Medicine

Education

BA BM BCh (Oxford)

Elspeth studied at Oxford and remained there for her foundation years. Having enjoyed all six of her foundation rotations, she is currently an ACCS anaesthetic doctor. She has championed research by medical students, acting as Oxford lead for a National Medical student research collaborative and aiding in design of a multi-centre trial on post-operative complications.

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Shannon Gunawardana

Dr Shannon Gunawardana

College Lecturer in Medicine

Headshot of Katie Hurst

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Katie Hurst

Headshot of Katie Hurst

Dr Katie Hurst MRCS

College Lecturer in Medicine

Clinical Research Fellow, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences

Education

BSc, MB BCh

Katie obtained a BSc in Biomedical Science from Sheffield University in 2009 and an MB BCh from Cardiff University in 2013. Upon completion of her Foundation Doctor at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, Katie then was employed as an Academic Clinical Fellow on a three-year academic programme where she managed to complete her Basic Surgical Training one year ahead of schedule.

Currently undertaking her DPhil at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences and a member of Wolfson College, Katie is working towards the crucial understanding of biomarkers within the plaques of peripheral vascular disease.

Katie already has over 30 publications in journals which include those with the highest impact factors in her field. After having won numerous prizes including the Glaxo Fellowship Prize (2016), Oxford University Surgical Tutor of Year (2015, 2016 and 2018), the Sol Cohen Prize of the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland (2015, 2017 and 2018), and the Professor JR Silbert Prize of the Welsh Paediatric Society (2014).

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Samuel Leafe

Dr Samuel Leafe

College Lecturer in Medicine

Education

MB ChB BMedSci (Oxford)

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr JinHeng Lin

Dr JinHeng Lin

College Lecturer in Medicine

Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Department of Pharmacology

Education

BSc (Sheffield), PhD (Newcastle)

I am an early-career researcher at the Department of Pharmacology, investigating the ion channels and cellular pathways regulating vascular function in small arteries. My current project, funded by the British Heart Foundation, focuses on the effects of neuropeptide Y on coronary microvascular function. Our most recent publication identified a mechanistic link between the Gβγ subunit and small artery vasoconstriction to NPY.

College Lecturer in Medicine

Mrs Sarah McCartney

Mrs Sarah McCartney FRCS

College Lecturer in Medicine

Education

MSci (Cambridge), BM BCh (Oxford), PGCert

Headshot of Raj Patel

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Raj Patel

Headshot of Raj Patel

Dr Raj Patel

College Lecturer in Medicine

Academic Clinical Fellow, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences

Education

BM BCh MA (Oxford), MSc (Edinburgh)

I graduated from medical school at the University of Oxford (Worcester College) in 2016. After choosing a career in General Practice, I joined the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences as an Academic Clinical Fellow in 2020. In my clinical role, I am a GP trainee based in Didcot, Oxfordshire. I also have an interest in education, having completed a Master’s degree in Clinical Education at the University of Edinburgh in 2021. I am currently a tutor in clinical medicine at Worcester College, and intend to pursue a career role in the training of future GPs.

Headshot of Marta Penna

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Marta Penna

Headshot of Marta Penna

Dr Marta Penna MRCS

College Lecturer in Medicine

Education

BSc, MB BS

College Lecturer in Medicine

Professor Andrew Protheroe

Professor Andrew Protheroe FRCP

College Lecturer in Medicine

Education

MB BS, PhD

Professor Andrew Protheroe is an Associate Professor of Uro-Oncology within the University of Oxford Department of Oncology at the Oxford Cancer and Haematology Centre. As a consultant medical oncologist he has specialised in managing urological cancer at Oxford since 2001.  He qualified from St Thomas’s Hospital in London and after general medical training in London, trained in Oncology at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds.  His PhD was in tumour immunology and the research was based at Leeds and the National Cancer Institute in Amsterdam as an Honorary ICRF Clinical Research fellow funded by a Northern and Yorkshire research award.

Headshot of Anna Seeley

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Anna Seeley

Headshot of Anna Seeley

Dr Anna Seeley MRCP MRCGP

College Lecturer in Medicine

Wellcome Trust Doctoral Research Fellow, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences

Education

BA MB ChB (Oxford), DTMH (LSHTM)

Anna graduated from Oxford University in 2013 and since then has completed several years of medical training in Oxford and London, before choosing general practice. She has a long-standing interest in global health, particularly of non-communicable disease, and primary health care delivery, having completed a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, in 2015, and spent time clinically working across a range of settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Her interest in ageing and elderly medicine blossomed from time as a CEO Clinical Research Fellow at University College London Hospital and the MRC unit of Lifelong Health Ageing. She completed an academic clinical fellowship in general practice and projects included a qualitative interview study with primary care professionals, as to how they identify and manage frailty. She is now a DPhil student using a mixed methods to understand how to optimise cardiovascular medications in those living with frailty.

She works as a GP in Oxford and is a clinical lecturer in medicine at Worcester College.

College Lecturer in Medicine

Mr Michael Silva

Mr Michael Silva FCS FFSTEd FRCSEd

College Lecturer in Medicine

Education

MB BS, MS, MD

Michael Silva is a highly experienced specialist surgeon with an interest in gallbladder surgery along with surgery for bile duct, liver and pancreatic disease including pancreatitis. His practice covers all aspects of benign and malignant disease in this area

Mr Silva has been a leading Teaching Hospital General and HPB Surgical Consultant since 2009 and is the Chair for the Thames Valley Liver Cancer Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) in Oxford. He is the Training Programme Director for Higher Surgical Trainees in the Oxfordshire Thames Valley Deanery and is Clinical Lecturer at Worcester College, Oxford University.

Mr Silva is also the Director for Regional Surgical Networks in the UK for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a specialist advisor to NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence). He is a member of the editorial boards of the British Journal of Surgery (BJS Open) and Current Surgery Reports.

Headshot of Maria Tsakok

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Maria Tsakok

Headshot of Maria Tsakok

Dr Maria Tsakok

College Lecturer in Medicine

Education

BA, BM BCh

Headshot of Rachel Varughese

College Lecturer in Medicine

Dr Rachel Varughese

Headshot of Rachel Varughese

Dr Rachel Varughese

College Lecturer in Medicine

Education

MA, BM BCh