Five-million-pound gift creates The Pears Cumbria School of Medicine

The creation of Cumbria’s first medical school, a partnership between University of Cumbria and Imperial College London, has taken another step forward with £5 million in philanthropic support from Pears Foundation.

Pears Foundation, a family foundation ‘driven by a desire to demonstrate the good that philanthropy can achieve in the world’, has provided the donation to support the development and launch of the new school.

Following the publication of the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the new medical school will play a crucial role in delivering on the ambition to train more doctors.

Specifically mentioned in the workforce plan, The Pears Cumbria School of Medicine is the result of a shared vision to train more medical professionals to serve their local communities in the regions with greatest need.

The Pears Cumbria School of Medicine will open its doors in autumn 2025 and welcome its first 50 graduate-entry medical students to the University of Cumbria’s Fusehill Street Campus in Carlisle.

The University of Cumbria and Imperial College London first announced the ambition to create the new Carlisle-based medical school in April 2022, with a core mission to train new doctors for Cumbria and North West England, transforming healthcare in local communities.

This unique partnership will offer a four-year graduate-entry programme with a bespoke curriculum, specifically designed to meet the needs of the region. This has been achieved through co-creation with regional NHS partners, and is designed to support the retention of doctors in Cumbria and the North West.

Led by Professor Mary Morrell, Head of The Pears Cumbria School of Medicine, it has united University of Cumbria’s expertise in the education of nurses, midwives, and a wide range of allied health professionals with Imperial’s reputation as one of the world’s best medical schools to improve the region’s access to world-class clinical care.

Professor Mary Morrell said: "I’m absolutely delighted that generous support from Pears Foundation has helped to make our new medical school for Cumbria a reality.

"We are so excited that we will welcome students to this bespoke, innovative and research-informed, graduate-entry medical school in 2025.

"We have now released information for those wishing to apply and ultimately serve the region as future doctors."

Students at The Pears Cumbria School of Medicine will benefit from exposure to clinical practice early within their training. This will be complemented by campus-based medical sciences teaching, incorporating clinical skills training and multi-disciplinary learning. They will also complete a community-based prevention and healthcare delivery project.

The school’s personalised professional development tutoring programme will support students’ progress and career development, alongside a wealth of resources to structure their learning and inspire innovation in medicine and healthcare.

Sir Trevor Pears, Executive Chair of Pears Foundation, said: "The vision for the Pears Cumbria School of Medicine – to train doctors with a specifically local medical expertise – is incredibly compelling. It is hugely exciting to be playing a role in opening a medical school in a place that is markedly “under-doctored”.

"The opportunity to join forces with a university with genuine international scientific pedigree and another with incredible expertise in recruiting and training local healthcare key workers was too compelling to miss.

"Pears Foundation makes long term investments in initiatives that we believe will have meaningful and in-depth impacts. This is something we are sure the new Pears Cumbria School of Medicine will achieve.

"And it will also place Cumbria in the vanguard of the way we think about the future of the NHS."