King's College London

Hosted from the Faculty of Life Science & Medicine, the new Centre also brings together a breadth of expertise from the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care at King’s, as well as across partner NHS organisations: Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

The Centre’s vision is to improve the care and outcomes of critically ill adults and children through interdisciplinary translational and clinical research, complemented by education to develop the next generation of clinical researchers, whether they be allied health professionals, nurses or doctors. The Centre aims to offer actionable insights to inform clinical practice and wider health policy. It will also influence the direction of future research with a focus on translating scientific research into practice to improve outcomes for critically ill patients.

The new Centre is led by Professor Manu Shankar-Hari who joined the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine in January 2026 as Professor of Critical Care Medicine, based in the School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences. A highly respected clinician scientist, Professor Shankar-Hari has most recently worked as the Chair of Translational Critical Care Medicine and an Honorary Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. It is a return to King’s for Professor Shankar-Hari, as he completed his PhD in Immunology at the Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology at King’s and worked for several years as an Intensive Care Consultant at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Shankar-Hari’s internationally recognised research centres on enabling precision immunomodulation for sepsis as well as for COVID-19. His work has transformed how adults with sepsis are diagnosed and treated, by informing immunobiology and treatment guidelines.

Professor Shankar-Hari has won several prestigious awards including the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and he has been invited to chair the upcoming Lancet Sepsis Commission. He is also an Honorary Professorial Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health.

Professor Shankar-Hari said: “Through the new King’s Health Partners Centre for Critical Illness Research, we will have a special opportunity to improve – and save – the lives of people worldwide who are facing critical illness and its lasting impacts. I am very much looking forward to working with colleagues from the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care and beyond, as well as across our NHS Partner Trusts to transform the approach to critical care in the UK and worldwide.”

Professor Graham Lord, Senior Vice President (Health & Life Sciences) and Executive Director of King’s Health Partners said: “The highly specialist adult and paediatric critical care services provided by our NHS partner Trusts already provide unique environments that allow King’s research to influence and drive innovative clinical practice. I am delighted that with a clinical academic of the calibre of Professor Shankar-Hari leading the new Centre for Critical Illness Research, we will be able to take this world-leading research to the next level and look forward to welcoming him to King’s in the new year.”

Professor Ajay Shah, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, said: “Inter-disciplinary collaborations are fundamental to the way we work in the Faculty as they allow us to link groundbreaking fundamental science with translational research and maximise clinical impact by working with colleagues in our partner Trusts. I am confident that, under the direction of Professor Shankar-Hari, the Centre will be highly influential in shaping the future of critical care medicine.”

Professor Louise Rose MBE, Professor of Critical Care Nursing and the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care’s lead for the Centre and for its ‘Patient & Family Centred Care’ research theme, said: “Having the Centre for Critical Illness Research positioned across two King’s Faculties and with our NHS partners gives us a fantastic opportunity to enable world-leading research from a multi-professional perspective, reflecting the multi-professional nature of intensive care. I am very much looking forward to working with Professor Shankar-Hari.”