Charles Perkins Centre staircase

The University of Sydney Central Clinical School

Research and teaching in central Sydney's hospitals

The largest of the University's clinical schools, our staff cover a wide range of disciplines and research areas.

About the Central Clinical School

Administrative staff of Central Clinical School (CCS) are primarily based at the Susan Wakil Health Building. CCS supports a wide range of teaching activities for Medicine with dedicated staff supporting each year group. The Clinical School staff co-ordinate all aspects of teaching, medical placements and electives in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and its associated partners.

Staff cover a wide range of disciplines and are active in both research and teaching. Research activities are also supplemented by our affiliation with a large number of external research units and institutes in the Sydney Medical School, covering a diverse range of disciplines and research areas.

We provide a wide variety of opportunities for domestic and international students, graduates and researchers to pursue their chosen field.

Elective placements

Please refer to the FMH elective placements page.

Our disciplines

  • addiction medicine
  • anaesthesia
  • brain and mind sciences 
  • clinical ophthalmology
  • dermatology
  • general practice
  • medicine, including: cancer, cardiology, endocrinology, genetic medicine, haematology, infectious diseases and immunology, neurology, radiology, renal, respiratory medicine, and sleep medicine.
  • obstetrics, gynaecology and neonatology
  • psychological medicine
  • radiation physics laboratory
  • surgery, including transplantation surgery.

Our teaching hospitals

Located in Camperdown, RPA is the main teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School. It is an institution with a rich heritage in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical training in Australia. Because of the close proximity to the main campus of the University, the clinical school at RPA was the medical program’s first clinical school, established soon after the Sydney Medical School opened in 1883.

The clinical school at RPA offers a huge scope of clinical exposure to common and rare chronic medical illnesses. This includes acute illness and trauma and the full range of surgical conditions, with patients ranging across all age groups, from pre-term newborns to the elderly. Many of the clinical teachers at RPA are national and international leaders in their respective fields of medicine. 

For basic clinical skills training, the clinical school at RPA has comprehensive clinical skills laboratories, including facilities for the development of advanced levels of consultative skills and surgical procedural skills training. 

The precincts of RPA have the largest concentration in Australia of leading medical research institutes – including:

Sydney Eye Hospital is Australia's oldest hospital and dates from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. This historic facility has been located in Macquarie Street since 1816 and is steeped in history with a legacy of nursing and medical firsts to its credit. Today, Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospitals' modern facilities and professional staff provide a strong blend of general and specialist medical services for the public. 

The Sydney Eye Hospital houses the Discipline of Clinical Ophthalmology and Eye Health and the Save Sight Institute and accommodates the largest training program in Australia for the training of ophthalmologists. 

Canterbury Hospital is a large district hospital (approximately 200 beds) within the Central Clinical School. Canterbury Hospital has an active teaching program in general medicine, general surgery, and paediatrics, and about one third to one-quarter of our students will spend some time at Canterbury.

Affiliated research units

Our people

Head of Clinical School

Stephen Twigg
Professor Stephen Twigg
View academic profile

Central Clinical School

Central Clinical School