The medical school in Newcastle had its origins in a series of lectures organised by a group of local practitioners beginning in 1832. Of the eight students enrolled, John Snow was to become the most distinguished, removing the handle of the Broad Street pump and becoming anaesthetist to Queen Victoria at the birth of two of her children in the 1850s. By 1834 the popularity of the lectures led to the foundation of the Newcastle College of Medicine which by 1851 had established a close connection with the developing University of Durham, allowing the College to award Durham degrees in 1856. In 1934 Durham College united with Armstrong College to become King's College in the University of Durham, continuing until 1963 until separation again occurred when the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (now the University of Newcastle) was established.

Medical teaching was in the hands of clinicians with honorary university appointments. When Newcastle's first medical officer of health was appointed in 1870, public health teaching began on a similar honorary basis. While the development of the laboratory disciplines led slowly to the creation of full-time posts, similar clinical appointments were rarely achieved until after the Second World War – and there were none in public health.