Join us to celebrate a special milestone for our new professors and hear about their inspiring career journeys. Doors for this event will open at 16.45, with the lectures to commence at 17.00. A drinks reception will be held immediately after the lecture at 18:00.

Please note that registration will close at midnight the Sunday before the lecture.

Professor Sheeba Irshad

Encounters That Endure

Abstract

Every research life is shaped by encounters — unexpected, enduring, and transformative. In this lecture, I reflect on moments and relationships that have influenced my journey as a clinician scientist: from early lessons in care and compassion to the collaborations and discoveries that continue to shape my work. These experiences have defined my role as a bridge between the science of disease and the lived realities that motivate it. Encounters That Endure explores what it means to work at the interface of science and care, and how the trust, persistence, and imagination we share with others make research not only possible, but deeply human. 

Biography

Professor Sheeba Irshad is a Clinician–Scientist in Cancer Immunology at King’s College London and a Consultant Breast Cancer Medical Oncologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. She directs the Breast Cancer Now King’s Research Unit, integrating immunology, oncology, and clinical-trial design to understand how immune dysfunction drives cancer progression and treatment failure. Her research combines high-dimensional immune profiling, spatial and single-cell analysis to identify biomarkers of response and resistance and to guide immunotherapy development. Professor Irshad’s team also investigates how ancestry, systemic stressors, and chronic inflammation influence immune outcomes and cancer disparities, and she co-leads Team SAMBAI, a Cancer Grand Challenge initiative exploring the biological basis of global cancer inequities. She led the national SOAP study, which informed UK COVID-19 vaccine policy for cancer patients, and is Chief Investigator of the Outlier study examining exceptional survivors of metastatic cancer. 

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Professor Shaihan Malik

Faster, Sharper … Cheaper? Building the MRI of tomorrow

Abstract

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) allows us to explore the human body in exquisite detail, without ionising radiation. Yet scans are often slow, costly, and technically demanding. Over my career I have worked on building the MRI of tomorrow: developing methods to accelerate imaging, improve safety, and uncover new biological insights. Examples include advances at ultra-high magnetic fields, interventional MRI, imaging newborn infants, and probing the molecular origins of the MRI signal. A unifying theme has been to view MRI as a whole system — from physics and hardware through to applications — and to make it more effective through open, reproducible research. In this lecture, I will reflect on this journey, and ask whether MRI can become not only faster and sharper, but also meet the pressing challenges of accessibility and environmental sustainability. 

Biography

Shaihan Malik is Professor of Imaging Physics in the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences at King’s College London. His research focuses on advancing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), spanning the physics and engineering of the technology through to applications in clinical medicine and neuroscience, particularly in children and infants. He studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, graduating in 2003, before completing a PhD on faster MRI at Imperial College London in 2007. After postdoctoral research, he joined King’s as Lecturer in 2012, and has since played a leading role in MRI technology development. He has overseen the technical programme of King’s 7T MRI facility since its launch in 2019, became Head of the newly formed Imaging Physics and Engineering Research Department in 2024, and was promoted to Professor in 2025.