The genesis of Collegiate Membership: a personal account by the first Chair of the Collegiate Members' Committee.

Just over 40 years ago, the then President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Christopher Clayson, responded to the publication of a Royal Commission on Medical Education by setting up a College Committee under the chairmanship of John Halliday Croom. This is a personal account of, and reflections on, the workings of that important committee, the College Council whose work led to the introduction of Collegiate Membership and the Collegiate Members' Committee of which I was the first Chair. This development led to the RCPE becoming much more concerned with, and responsive to, the needs of doctors in training and had a wider, positive impact upon medical training and education in the UK.