About us
The Drug Control Centre at King's College London has an international reputation for its work in anti-doping control. Staff at the centre analyse samples collected from athletes competing in major sporting events and training worldwide, and also carry out research into the metabolism and detection of substances in the human body.
There are just 35 accredited anti-doping laboratories in the world; the King's laboratory is the only one in the UK and carried out more than 8,000 tests across 70 sports last year. The Drug Control Centre will run the anti-doping facility for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, operating a satellite laboratory accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The Centre was the first human sports drug-testing laboratory established outside of an Olympic Games when it was set up in 1978 with the support of the Sports Council (and now the UK Anti-Doping Agency). The Drug Control Centre is part of the Department of Forensic Science and Drug Monitoring in the School of Biomedical Sciences.
The Director of the Drug Control Centre is Professor David Cowan, who is also Head of the Department of Forensic Science & Drug Monitoring.