Biography
Professor Shitij Kapur is the President & Principal of King’s College London. He returned to lead King’s in June 2021, following more than four years at the University of Melbourne, where he was Dean and Assistant Vice Chancellor (Health) for the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and interim Deputy Vice Chancellor (International).
Professor Kapur is well known at King’s having previously served, between 2007 to 2016, as Assistant Principal (Academic Performance), Dean and Head of School for the Institute of Psychiatry and the founding Executive Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN).
Professor Kapur is a member of the College Council and also serves on the Governance and Nominations Committee, the Estates Strategy Committee, the Finance Committee, the Investment Subcommittee, the Governance & Nominations Committee, the Chairs' Committee and the Fellowships & Honorary Degrees Committee.
During his time in Melbourne, Professor Kapur significantly increased the educational footprint of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, introducing innovative models of learning, increasing both research income and impact, while doubling philanthropic support. In collaboration with colleagues across the university and medical research Institutes he was involved in creating the Centre for the Digital Transformation of Health and establishing the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery. He Co-Chaired the Australian Million Minds Mission and during the Covid pandemic took a lead role in bringing together scholars from the Group of Eight Universities to deliver the ‘Roadmap to Recovery – a Report for the Nation’.
Professor Kapur graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 1988. He went on to complete his residency training in Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, and a Fellowship in Schizophrenia and a PhD in Neuroscience from the Institute of Medical Science, both at the University of Toronto.
Professor Kapur is recognised worldwide for his own research on understanding psychosis and antipsychotic treatment – with over 300 papers, numerous presentations and an H-index of over a hundred. While at King’s he led NEWMEDS, an international consortium of scientists from 19 institutions from nine EU countries, which was one of the largest academic-industry research collaboration projects in its time.
He has received many awards and honorary fellowships including the honours of Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK), Fellow of the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (Australia) and Fellow of King's College London. He has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Copenhagen.