The Richard Doll Society: all about Green Templeton’s medical society
Green Templeton College offers a full and rich programme of clinical medical teaching and support, which includes a thriving medical society which is run by our students. The Richard Doll Society (RDS) is a student-led society that all Green Templeton College medical students are automatically enrolled in as members when they start their course. Named after the first Warden of Green College, who discovered the link between smoking and lung cancer, the society’s primary purpose is building a strong community among college medics and offering further training opportunities through workshops and seminars.
‘The RDS increases our wider understanding of medicine and healthcare, covering subject areas beyond our medical school curriculum,’ explains President Joe Cutteridge. ‘Past events have explored topics including global health and the ethics of genetic sequencing. Such subjects are very important but not the kind of things that come up in our multiple choice questions, which normally go something like, ‘which drug do you give for this disease?’ So, I think what you gain is basic understanding of some of the big themes that are currently at play in the medical community.’
Recent examples of workshops held by the Richard Doll Society include the ‘fundamentals of suturing and surgical knot tying’ and a seminar on ‘coding for medicine’. As with all aspects of our lives over the last year, COVID-19 has impacted the society’s events, with many workshops and talks moving online for now.
‘The coding for medicine event recently taught students the fundamentals of coding and how it can be useful in medical research,’ says Joe. ‘That was held over Teams and worked quite well.’
Joe says the pandemic and lockdown has made the society’s purpose even more important, and the current committee are keen to reach out to as many students as possible to ensure nobody is feeling isolated.
One event the RDS has managed to hold in person this year was a surgical skills workshop, where attendees could practice their suturing and surgical knot tying skills. The session took place in a COVID-secure environment at 13 Norham Gardens with social distancing and masks.
The society, however, doesn’t just host specialised workshops for medical students: there are talks and social events for the wider college community, too, and all Green Templeton students are welcomed and encouraged to get involved.
‘We’re the medical society of Green Templeton but many of our events are targeted at a much wider audience than just medical students,’ says Joe. ‘Some things like our suturing workshops are likely going to be more relevant to medics, but we are also planning a talk on AI in healthcare, for example, which is relevant to students studying a wide range of disciplines. Although medics are the inherent members, our target audience is much wider and we encourage all Green Templeton students to get involved.’
‘As a committee we are a friendly bunch!’ he adds. ‘We’re a mix of fourth- and fifth-year medical students and we’re approachable and keen for people to get involved so do get in touch with us and we look forward to welcoming you to future events!’
Other activities lined up for this year include the annual Richard Doll Society Conference in October, which welcomes noted guest speakers to discuss topics related to a broad theme. In 2019 the conference was ‘Personalised Medicine: your genes vs big data’. We are pleased to announce that the committee has chosen ‘Diversity and Inclusivity in healthcare’ as the focus of the conference for 2021. More details to be released on this shortly.
About Joe Cutteridge
‘I’m a fifth year medical student at GTC. I did my pre-clinical undergraduate Medical Sciences degree at The Queen’s College, Oxford, and then transferred across to Green Templeton for my clinical training. My broad interests include surgery, global health and healthcare innovation. I’ve been involved in the COVID-19 response effort both back home in Hertfordshire, where I worked as a healthcare assistant in my local care home, and here in Oxford where I worked in the OUH staff testing service. My hobbies include rock climbing and playing the cello.’
Contact: richarddollsociety@gmail.com
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Just one week to go until Community & Giving Week 2026.
From 20–26 June, we`ll be celebrating the people, generosity, support and sense of community that help students thrive during their time at Green Templeton.
Throughout the week, we`ll be sharing opportunities to join in the celebration along with challenges and highlights from across college on our stories.
Whether you`re a student, alum, fellow, staff member or friend of Green Templeton, there are plenty of ways to take part.
Follow along next week as we celebrate our global community and the difference it makes to student life.
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The college hosted some very exciting guests last week! @gtc_gcr invited some Alpacas (and a Llama!) to come in for a student wellness event. They were indeed a welcome distraction for all!
A huge congratulations to everyone from @greentempletonboatclub who took part in Summer Eights 2026.
The club fielded an impressive five crews across four days of racing on the Isis, demonstrating commitment, teamwork and determination in one of Oxford`s most iconic rowing events.
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