The Royal College of Physicians is a British professional body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded in 1518, it set the first international standard in the classification of diseases, and its library contains medical texts of great historical interest.
The college hosts four training faculties: the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine, the Faculty for Pharmaceutical Medicine, the Faculty of Occupational Medicine and the Faculty of Physician Associates. The college is sometimes referred to as the Royal College of Physicians of London to differentiate it from other similarly named bodies. Its home in Regent's Park is one of the few post-war buildings to be granted Grade I listed status.
In 2016 it was announced that the North of England centre of excellence was to be based at a new building in the Liverpool Knowledge Quarter in Liverpool. The new centre is set to open in 2020.
