ACADEMIC medicine will soon have a single voice to represent its interests with the formation of an Academy of Medical Sciences. The new group, which should be operating by October 1998, will speak collectively in areas such as medical research and teaching, in place of the vast array of councils, committees and colleges that cover this area. It will be housed alongside the Royal Society and draw its founding membership from the society, as well as the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the royal colleges of medicine and the Council of Heads of University Medical Schools.