[2] Its first director was Edinburgh Medical School graduate Francis Richard Fraser.
It was the result of recommendations by the Athlone Report of 1921, and was a pioneer institution of postgraduate clinical teaching and research.
The RPMS has had an enormous influence on British medicine and had a major role in developing endocrine surgery in the UK.
An article entitled 'Human Guinea Pigs: A Warning' published in 1962 in the journal Twentieth Century by Maurice Pappworth highlighted many unethical practices regarding human experimentation at the postgraduate medical school.
According to Pappworth, experiments had been carried out without valid consent on vulnerable patients, such as children and the mentally ill.