In an effort to increase the country's quota of physician scientists, the Leicester Warwick Medical School has become the first institute in the UK to offer an accelerated four-year MD course—basic training to become a doctor normally takes five years—to students who already hold a first degree in the biological sciences.

The program is sited at the University of Warwick's Department of Biological Sciences which, during the last government Research Assessment Exercise was awarded the highest possible rating of 5A. The program welcomed its first intake of 64 students this year and enrollment is set to rise to around 200 in the next academic year as the institute bids to take on its share of the additional 1000 medical students that the country needs, according to a recent announcement by the Department of Health.

Funding has also been secured for an additional 17 non-clinical and four clinical lectureships. A new hospital nearby, incorporating a £15 million (US $21.5 million) clinical sciences facility will be built as part of the new program. There are also advanced plans to develop an MD/PhD course at the institute, an initiative that would be another UK first.