Professor Manu Shankar-Hari
Professor of Critical Care Medicine
- Director of the Centre for Critical Illness Research
- Chair of Critical Care Medicine
Contact details
Biography
Professor Manu Shankar-Hari is Professor of Critical Care Medicine and Director of the Centre for Critical Illness Research in the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. He leads an internationally recognised, cross-disciplinary translational research programme spanning mechanistic discovery, clinical trials, and clinical practice-changing guidelines, focused on the global challenge of sepsis and sepsis survivorship. His work integrates immunobiology and clinical sciences to define critical illness phenotypes, advance drug repurposing and target discovery, and enable precision immunomodulation in critically ill patients, with a particular focus on critical illness due to infections (i.e., sepsis).
In recognition of his scientific leadership and contributions to medicine, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2025 and Fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences in 2026.
Awards
2026 NIHR Senior Instigator (2026-2030)
2026 Fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences
2025 Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy
2024 Michael Ward Lecturer, Sepsis Canada
2023 Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Healthcare Data Analytics
2022 Finalist, Medical Leaders of the Year at Scottish Asian & Business Awards
2019 International Sepsis Forum Lowry-Fink Fellowship
2017 ANZICS Global Rising Star Award
Current active grants
2026
Grant Title: A phase 2 randomised clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of anakinra in patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (AnakARDS)
Granting Body: EME Programme
Role: Co-applicant
2025
Grant Title: GuARDS Trial - Australia.
Granting Body: MRFF2035967
Role: Co-CI
Grant Title: Modulating interleukin-6 pathways to understand the effect of systemic inflammation on detrimental neuroinflammation following Traumatic Brain Injury
Granting Body: MRC Experimental Medicine
Role: Mentor to primary applicant and Project co-lead
Grant Title: Advancing the Cellular Investigative Workflow in Regeneration & Repair through Imaging & Spectral Cell Sorting
Granting Body: MRC Equip (Capital grant)
Role: Co-Lead
2024
Grant Title: Post-Sepsis Platform Trial: Statin Pilot RCT
Granting Body: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Role: Co-Lead
Grant Title: Post-Sepsis Platform Trial: Statin Pilot RCT
Granting Body: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Role: Co-Lead
2023
Grant Title: Glucocorticoids in Adults With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Randomised Clinical Trial (GuARDS Trial)
Granting Body: NIHR – HTA
Role: Lead applicant and CI
Grant Title: FLuid strategies and Inflammatory Phenotypes in the SepTIC trial (FLIP-SepTIC)
Granting Body: NIHR – EME Programme
Role: Lead applicant and CI
2022
Grant Title: Time critical precision medicine for acute critical illness using treatable trait principles: TRAITS Programme
Granting Body: Chief Scientist’s Office, Scotland
Role: Mentor to Lead applicant and co-applicant
Grant Title: The Corticosteroid Early and Extended (CORT-E2) Randomized Controlled Trial
Granting Body: CIHR
Role: Co-applicant
Grant Title: The Corticosteroid Early and Extended (CORT-E2) Randomized Controlled Trial
Granting Body: CIHR
Role: Co-applicant
2021
Grant Title: Evaluating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of Sodium Bicarbonate administration for critically ill patients with Acute Kidney Injury (MOSAICC Multicentre evaluation Of Sodium bicarbonate in Acute kidney Injury in Critical Care)
Granting Body: NIHR - HTA
Role: Co-applicant
Grant Title: Early Vasopressors in Sepsis (EVIS)
Granting Body: NIHR - HTA
Role: Co-applicant
Research
Translational Research & Innovation in Microbial Sciences (TRIMS) - King’s Prize Doctoral Programme
This PhD programme is designed to tackle microbial challenges through cutting-edge technological innovation, fundamental and applied science with translational impact.
Shankar-Hari Group
Our research aims to tackle a major global healthcare challenge in medicine: Sepsis
Centre for Critical Illness Research
CCIR, a cross-faculty centre for academic excellence, focusses on critical illness.CCIR brings together interdisciplinary academics and clinicians to translate early scientific breakthroughs into effective prevention, diagnosis, and treatment strategies for critical illness and to enable healthy critical illness survivorship for children and adults.
News
Researchers map the changing immune response in sepsis
Researchers have mapped how the immune response in people with sepsis changes over time.
Sepsis survivors don't respond to vaccines in the same way as the general population
People who have survived sepsis don’t respond to vaccines in the same way as those who haven’t had sepsis, according to new clinical trial results.
New priorities set for the future of intensive care research
A new set of 10 research priorities has been published by The Intensive Care Society to help shape the future of intensive care research.
Four King's academics elected as Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences
Professors Joseph Hajnal, Cathryn Lewis, Kypros Nicolaides and Manu Shankar-Hari from King’s College London have been elected as Fellows of the Academy of...
Three King's academics appointed as NIHR Senior Investigators
Three academics from King’s College London have been appointed as NIHR Senior Investigators.
New Centre of Excellence for Critical Illness Research launches at King's
A new cross-Faculty interdisciplinary Centre to support research and education into adult and paediatric critical illness, the King’s Health Partners’ Centre...
Research
Translational Research & Innovation in Microbial Sciences (TRIMS) - King’s Prize Doctoral Programme
This PhD programme is designed to tackle microbial challenges through cutting-edge technological innovation, fundamental and applied science with translational impact.
Shankar-Hari Group
Our research aims to tackle a major global healthcare challenge in medicine: Sepsis
Centre for Critical Illness Research
CCIR, a cross-faculty centre for academic excellence, focusses on critical illness.CCIR brings together interdisciplinary academics and clinicians to translate early scientific breakthroughs into effective prevention, diagnosis, and treatment strategies for critical illness and to enable healthy critical illness survivorship for children and adults.
News
Researchers map the changing immune response in sepsis
Researchers have mapped how the immune response in people with sepsis changes over time.
Sepsis survivors don't respond to vaccines in the same way as the general population
People who have survived sepsis don’t respond to vaccines in the same way as those who haven’t had sepsis, according to new clinical trial results.
New priorities set for the future of intensive care research
A new set of 10 research priorities has been published by The Intensive Care Society to help shape the future of intensive care research.
Four King's academics elected as Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences
Professors Joseph Hajnal, Cathryn Lewis, Kypros Nicolaides and Manu Shankar-Hari from King’s College London have been elected as Fellows of the Academy of...
Three King's academics appointed as NIHR Senior Investigators
Three academics from King’s College London have been appointed as NIHR Senior Investigators.
New Centre of Excellence for Critical Illness Research launches at King's
A new cross-Faculty interdisciplinary Centre to support research and education into adult and paediatric critical illness, the King’s Health Partners’ Centre...