James Matthews Duncan Medal Exam

James Matthews Duncan Medal Exam

James Matthews Duncan Medal Exam

Awarded to the student with the highest marks in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Medal Exam and presented at the end of Year 5.

James Matthews Duncan was born in Aberdeen in 1826 and was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and Marischal College. He continued his medical studies in Edinburgh and Paris and was one of the most inventive obstetricians of his time, becoming internationally recognised. Practising much of the time in Edinburgh, he played a key role with J Y Simpson in discovering the anaesthetic properties of chloroform. He also wrote the first substantive scientific text on infertility called Fecundity, Fertility and Sterility. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society; he died in 1890.