Professor Giovanni E. Mann

Professor Mann obtained his BSc in Zoology (1973) from George Washington University, Washington D.C. USA and MSc (1974) and PhD in Physiology (1978) from University College London. He was subsequently appointed to a 4-year postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Queen Elizabeth College London and then to a Lectureship in Physiology (1981), Readership in Physiology (1992) and as Professor of Vascular Physiology (1997-) at King’s.

He is currently President of the Society of Free Radical Research-International (SFRRI), and previously served as President-Elect and General Secretary of SFRRI, Chairman of The Physiological Society, President of the British Microcirculation Society, President of the European Microcirculation Society, President of the Society for Free Radical Research-Europe and President of the European Pancreatic Society. He was elected as a Fellow of The Physiological Society in 2018. Professor Mann serves as Associate Editor for Physiological Reviews and Reviews and Special Issues Editor for Free Radical Biology & Medicine and Chair of the Ethics Committee. He has served on Editorial Boards of The Journal of Physiology, Microcirculation and as Editorial Advisor for the Biochemical Journal. He is member of the Board of External Referees for the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council and College of Experts for the Medical Research Council - Physiological Systems & Clinical Sciences. He has previously served as Chair of the Translational Sciences Panel for Heart Research UK, Medical Panel of the Henry Smith Charity and on grant panels of the British Heart Foundation, Guy's & St. Thomas’ Hospital Charitable Foundation and Royal Society International Networks Panel. He is currently International Lead for the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences at King’s. Professor Mann has published >180 research papers and coordinated >45 research symposia at international conferences.

Prof Mann’s Vascular Biology research group at King’s College London is investigating signalling cascades involved the transcriptional activation of antioxidant defence genes in endothelial and smooth muscle cells in oxidative stress. We are interested in vascular dysfunction induced by oxidative stress in diseases including ischaemic stroke, atherosclerosis and gestational diabetes, and have demonstrated the health benefits of dietary sulforaphane as an activator of Nrf2 targeted antioxidant enzymes. More recently, his group have established the importance of Nrf2 in ischaemia-reperfusion injury in a murine model of stroke and microvascular endothelial cells adapted to ‘physiological’ O₂ levels in a Physiological Oxygen Laboratory. In collaboration with the London Metallomics Facility, his team obtained the first metal fingerprints in a mouse model of stroke and brain endothelial cells subjected to ischaemia-reoxygenation.