Cambridge Medical Seminars

In 2006, two Cambridge Consultant Physicians founded Cambridge Medical Seminars as a not-for-profit, twice-yearly series of medical seminars to update the medical fraternity on the rapidly changing clinical and academic landscape that encompasses general medicine today.

From 2013, we have started an annual Primary Care/GIM meeting in addition to our usual bi-annual hospital-centred meetings. These meetings will be focussed on Primary Care issues but will cover selected areas in medicine relevant to both GPs and those in junior training grades in hospital medicine. Our Hospital Doctor's meeting will still cover clinical medicine in more detail from a tertiary care perspective.

Participant

The meetings are only open to qualified doctors. The majority of attendees are specialist registrars or academic clinicians, but we also see a very healthy percentage of engaged foundation year trainees and of consultants. We have been particularly pleased to see the return of our "regulars" as their careers have progressed. We look forward to welcoming Primary Care doctors to our meetings from 2013.

CPD

The meetings are assessed by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on an individual basis, but generally attract between 6-8 points depending on the length of the programme.

Cost

The attendance fee for most delegates is heavily subsidised. In the early days, we were very grateful to receive unrestricted sponsorship from pharmaceutical companies, but are currently delighted to have funding from the NHS Eastern Deanery. Fees are generally about 30% of our costs. Doctors who register for seminars early normally attract special discounts.

Content

The meetings have a wide range of topics from basic clinical lectures to erudite discussions on the latest advances in academic science from the Cambridge biomedical campus. The meetings are held in a relaxed setting, to enable delegates to ask our speakers questions with confidence. They also provide an opportunity to mingle and network easily with fellow professionals. There is a broad triennial cycle, as can be seen from the programme of the seminars to date:

•Cardiovascular Medicine - 2006
•Respiratory Medicine & Infectious Diseases - 2007
•Renal Medicine & Gastroenterology - 2007
•Endocrinology & Diabetes - 2008
•Neurology, Oncology & Haematology - 2008
•Cardiovascular & Intensive Care Medicine - 2009
•Respiratory Medicine & Rheumatology - 2009
•Gastroenterology, Renal Medicine & Immunology - 2010
•Acute & General Internal Medicine - 2010
•Neurology, Oncology & Haematology - 2011
•Cardiovascular & Metabolic Medicine - 2011
•Respiratory Medicine & Rheumatology - 2012
•Gastroenterology & Renal Medicine - 2012