Faculties and schools_

Ainsworth Interactive Collection of Medical Pathology

Providing invaluable aids for teaching
The Ainsworth Interactive Collection of Medical Pathology (Pathology Museum) houses approximately 1600 pathological specimens on permanent display.

About the museum

The Ainsworth Interactive Collection of Medical Pathology (Pathology Museum) is maintained by the Discipline of Pathology, and is situated on the ground floor of the Charles Perkins Centre on the Camperdown campus.

It is home to about 1600 pathological specimens on permanent display. One of the collection's most prized exhibits is a flask of broth prepared by Louis Pasteur for the culture of bacteria.

Specimens are used as invaluable aids for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Visitors (including nurses in training, physiotherapy trainees, school students, and various other interest groups) can also attend by contacting the Curator for an appointment. The collection's facilities are also available for contract work from external sources.

Access our facilities

We provide a reconditioning and rebottling service for pathological and anatomical specimens.

Download this rebottling service document (pdf, 59.2KB) for more information and prices.

A 1 to 1½ hour museum tour for high school students is offered at $8.80 per student.

To make a booking please contact Alfee Liau on +61 2 9351 2933 or lian.liau@sydney.edu.au.

Special access can be arranged for other affiliated sources by contacting the Curator, Dr Murat Kekic on +61 2 9351 2411 or murat.kekic@sydney.edu.au.

We offer a workshop on understanding diseases that aims to address the learning outcomes of 9.4 in the Search for Better Health NSW HSC Biology syllabus.

Year 12 students will be provided with mini-lectures, worksheets, and a lab and museum tour. 

The workshop will run for 2 to 2½ hours. The workshop can be extended by prior arrangement.

Below is a brief outline of the workshop:

  • mini-lecture 1
  • museum tour
  • mini-lecture 2
  • lab tour.

Two of the following three topics will be covered:

  • Pasteur and Koch
  • pathogens
  • defence systems.

The workshop costs:

  • $15 per student for groups of 10 or more.
  • $150 per group for groups of less than 10.

The maximum number of students is 35.

To make a booking please contact Alfee Liau on 9351 2933 or lian.liau@sydney.edu.au

Our history

The establishment of the Ainsworth Interactive Collection of Medical Pathology as it exists today is not the work of one inspired person but the result of many people's endeavours over many years. The collection, as an educational institution, plays a vital role in the teaching of pathology to medical, dental and paramedical students.

In 1887 an extensive new building (Anderson Stuart Building) was completed, and a room was allotted for the collection of pathology specimens, along with zoological and biological objects. This room was called the Museum of Normal and Morbid Anatomy, and first appears in the University's records in 1889.

The collection has a very long history within the University and has grown over many years since Dr A MacCormick (later Sir Alexander MacCormick) began the collection of specimens to illustrate lectures to students. The first Honorary Curator, S Jamieson (BA, MB, ChM) was appointed in 1893.