About us

Ageing and Health at the University of Edinburgh is committed to improving the health of older people by original research, by the dissemination of knowledge, and as an exemplar of excellent clinical practice.

The College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine was formed in August 2002 from the previous Faculties of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

The Faculty of Medicine was established in 1726 and has grown and developed since then into the internationally renowned Medical School of today at the cutting edge of medical research and the delivery of patient care.    

The University of Edinburgh Department of Geriatric Medicine was established at the City Hospital in 1976.  Professor James Williamson was the first Head of Department.  His successor, Professor William MacLennan, was appointed in 1986.  Professor Archie Young was appointed in 1998 and the Geriatric Medicine Unit became part of the Locomotor Sciences Section of the Department of Clinical and Surgical Sciences in the Deanery of Clinical Sciences. He retired in 2007 and Professor Alasdair M.J. MacLullich now leads the group, which was renamed in 2021 to Ageing and Health.

Ageing and Health is now located at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Edinburgh BioQuarter on the south side of Edinburgh.