in Europe as of 2010. The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, which became part of King's in 1993, is the oldest professional school of nursing in the world.
King's is a major centre for biomedical research. It is a founding member of King's Health Partners, one of the largest academic health sciences centres in Europe with a turnover of over £2 billion and approximately 25,000 employees. It also is home to the Medical Research Council's MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and is part of two of the twelve biomedical research centres established by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in England – the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London.
The Drug Control Centre at King's was established in 1978 and is the only WADA accredited anti-doping laboratory in the UK and holds the official UK contract for running doping tests on UK athletes. In 1997, it became the first International Olympic Committee accredited laboratory to meet the ISO/IEC 17025 quality standard. The centre was the anti-doping facility for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
=== Libraries ===
==== Maughan Library ====
The Maughan Library is King's largest library and is housed in the Grade II* listed 19th century gothic revival former Public Record Office building designed by Sir James Pennethorne, situated on Chancery Lane near the Strand Campus. The building is home to collections supporting humanities, law and science. It also houses the special collections and rare books within the Foyle Library (see below). Inside the library is the dodecagonal Round Reading Room, inspired by the reading room of the British Museum (now home to the humanities reference collection), and the former Chapel of the Masters of the Rolls (renamed the Weston Room following a donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation) with its …
