Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) is a medical school founded by a collaboration between the Universities of Brighton and Sussex. This school, like other UK medical schools, is founded on the principles and standards of 'Tomorrow's Doctors,' a General Medical Council initiative outlining the role of British practitioners. Since its inception in 2003, BSMS has graduated over 1,500 new doctors who now work throughout the United Kingdom. In September 2003, the first class of students began their five-year medical degree programmes. The school was established as part of the British Government's efforts to train more doctors, which also saw the establishment of Peninsula Medical School, University of East Anglia Medical School, Hull York Medical School, and Keele University Medical School.

Following the Labour Party's election victory in 1997, a number of new medical schools were established in the UK, including the Brighton & Sussex Medical School. Technically, students are members of both universities, with access to both sets of facilities. The school received its licence in 2002, and its first course was a heavily modified version of the University of Southampton course. It admits about 136 students per year, with all of them spending their first two years on the Falmer campus. It has since grown to become one of the country's most prestigious medical schools.  According to UCAS statistics, BSMS was the most competitive medical school to gain admission to in 2005. According to the National Student Survey, the school was ranked first in the UK for student satisfaction in 2017.

The curriculum is a blend of both progressive and traditional teaching methods, based on lectures, practicals and small group-based learning mostly taking place on the University of Sussex campus. The medical school offers a variety of postgraduate courses, both full-time and part-time, as well as research degrees. The GMC-accredited Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (BM BS) qualification is offered by BSMS. It is a five-year systems-based programme with an intercalated degree year option. 

The professional aspects of the course are provided by the University of Brighton's faculties of health, sciences, and engineering, which draw on expertise from other healthcare courses such as nursing and midwifery. Sussex, on the other hand, focuses on biological science and anatomy education, for which it is better suited due to the Sussex portion of the medical school's proximity to the University of Sussex School of Life Sciences' John Maynard Smith building. The institute ensures that all alumni have the opportunity to learn, network, and socialise at the school. Alumni have free online access to the journals through JSTOR. There are alumni rates for sports facilities at the University of Sussex, a library day pass, and discounts for conferences and other events. Alumni can get involved in fundraising campaigns. Honorary academic awards are also given to alumni. Among the notable alumni are: Dr Charlie Sayer, Marta Fernandez Arias, Dr Sean Mitchell and Dr Naushin Husain.