This event is taking place in the Lilac Room at Avonmouth House, 6 Avonmouth Street, London SE1 6NX from 6pm to 9pm on Thursday, 25 February 2010.

Please find attached an invitation with the programme for the day.

Renewing an existing 10 year partnership between THET and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, (one of the founding members of King’s Health Partners) this new partnership will allow King’s Health Partners and THET to take steps to develop further their shared agenda and create a new centre of activity within King’s Health Partners.

The new partnership aims to expand delivery of the ‘Health Systems Strengthening’ work, as well as to promote greater involvement of younger members of the health profession by creating further opportunities to be engaged in and learn about global health.

The launch saw guest presentations and speeches from representatives of the existing partnership organisations as well Edna Adan Ismail, former Foreign Minister for Somaliland and Professor Christopher Whitty, Chief Scientific Advisor and Director of Research at the Department for International Development.

The event was held at the Weston Education Centre based on the King’s College Hospital site, which will now be the home of the Somaliland team from THET, to strengthen the joint working on this partnership.

Robert Lechler, Executive Director of King’s Health Partners said; “We view Global Health as an important part of the work we are doing across clinical care, research, and education and training. As an Academic Health Sciences Centre, we aim to influence healthcare both nationally and internationally. This new partnership with THET will play a key role in our aspirations to be a leader in global healthcare education, and is soon to form part of a wider Institute of Global Health Education and Training at King’s Health Partners.”

Pia McRae, Chief Executive at THET said; “We are delighted to be extending our collaboration with King’s Health Partners, following ten years of successful partnership in Somaliland supporting both the training of health professionals, as well as the development of a health infrastructure.  We share some key values with King’s Health Partners including an interest in how to support UK health professionals in providing service to developing countries through working alongside (and at the request of) overseas colleagues.  Going forward, we aspire to build on our shared commitment to increasing the understanding, education and awareness of UK health sector students, as well as staff, in global health issues and the needs of developing countries.”

Andy Leather, Director of the King’s International Development Unit, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, added; “King’s College Hospital have had a long standing relationship with THET and I am excited that this extended partnership as King’s Health Partners will not only further strengthen the capacity building and educational work in Somaliland but will also catalyse research partnerships with institutions there.”

• To view the presentations from the event, visit our Presentations page

Prof Beverley Hunt, Clinical Lead in Blood Sciences, won the £2,500 award in the ‘Diagnostics/Laboratory’ category.  She has developed a test to diagnose antiphospholipid antibodies that can cause blood clots in the arteries and veins and miscarriage in pregnancy. This is based on a finding her team made that blood from patients shows resistance to heparin in the test tube. 

Professor Beverly Hunt explains: “I am delighted that our work has been recognised by NHS Innovations London.  Being able to better detect antiphospholipid antibodies is crucial to the better management of patients.  We hope our work will result in a new diagnostic test that is simple to perform, reliable and cost effective, and will impact on patients with antiphospholipid syndrome, and be transferable across the whole of the UK to increase the quality of patient care.”

Dr Mohammad Ibrahim, Consultant and Lead Immunologist at King’s, was victorious in the Pharmaceuticals/Drug Delivery category, which NHS judges admitted was ‘extremely hard fought’. Dr Ibrahim has developed a new method which uses genetic engineering to combine proteins in order to create a novel therapy. It is hoped the idea could form the basis of a new immunological treatment and/or technology platform for protein drug delivery.

Dr Ibrahim said: “I am honoured our efforts at King’s have been recognised by NHS Innovations London. I hope that our innovation will accelerate development of better drugs to treat chronic inflammatory diseases.”

Professor Frank Walsh, Director of research and development at King’s Health Partners said: “I am very pleased that my colleagues have received these prestigious awards.  Innovation and translation in research is at the heart of King’s Health Partners and these two awards demonstrate real advances.  Patients will benefit immediately by having a more accurate diagnosis from Professor Hunt’s work and access to innovative new treatment trials in Dr Ibrahim’s work.”

The collaboration, made up of around 30 organisations, forms the South London Health Innovation Education Cluster (HIEC) - one of the new government funded networks aimed at delivering high quality patient care through better trained clinicians and faster translation and adoption of research and innovation.

South London HIEC brings together members of south London’s two major healthcare networks - King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre and the South West London Academic Health and Social Care Network. This includes all south London’s primary care and mental health trusts, 17 NHS hospitals, the London Ambulance Service and the local Health Protection Unit, as well as six universities, further education providers and social care teams.

Members of the HIEC will work together to improve patient care and local health services by more rapidly delivering the benefits of research and innovation directly to patients, for example through the early adoption of new technologies and introduction of improved processes. Early work will include a review of current education and training aimed at health professionals across south London and is expected to lead to the introduction of new programmes, as well as enhancements to existing training courses.

The South London HIEC has identified four areas to focus on initially: mental health; infection prevention and control; diabetes, and stroke.

The new HIEC will be jointly led by King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre and the South West London Academic Health and Social Care Network.

Commenting on the successful bid, Professor Anne Greenough, Lead of the South London HIEC and Director of Education and Training for King’s Health Partners said: “We are delighted that our bid was successful, as we believe it will bring many benefits for our local population, as well as for patients from further afield. Our successful bid is testament to the comprehensive range of world class expertise that exists across south London in education, health and social care.”

Director of South West London Academic Health and Social Care Network, Laurence Benson, adds: “South London is home to around three million people and includes some of the most affluent, as well as some of the most deprived, neighbourhoods in the country. This diversity brings unique challenges to the local services who are committed to meeting the needs of the population they serve. But we’re lucky to have the commitment of first class researchers, working alongside exceptional doctors and nurses, to devise and deliver new solutions - the HIEC’s job is to put these solutions into practice and deliver real benefits to local people.”

The Department of Health announced successful HIEC applications following a rigorous selection process, including a formal interview by the National Award Panel chaired by St Alan Langlands.

Jack was born with the heart condition pulmonary valve stenosis, which obstructs the outflow of blood from the right side of the heart, resulting in a reduction of blood flow to the lungs. After monitoring his condition since birth, it was decided Jack needed an intervention called valvuloplasty to widen the valve and allow more blood to flow.

In this operation, a cardiac catheter is inserted into a blood vessel in the arm or groin and then guided through the body towards the heart. At the tip of the catheter is a balloon which is gently inflated to widen the narrowed heart valve.

Traditionally, interventionalists would use x-ray imaging to track the progress of the catheter through the body. A new technique has been developed by a team, including clinicians and scientists from King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre, which uses MRI rather than x-ray.

Performing the catheterisation under the guidance of an MRI scan means that patients are not exposed to radiation, something that is especially important for paediatric patients who are at an even higher risk from long-term side effects of the radiation from x-rays. The MRI scan also provides a clearer image that contains information about the different tissues in the body in real time throughout the surgery. This allows clinicians to more accurately assess the severity of the disease before the intervention and the degree of improvement afterwards.

Previous to Jack’s intervention, clinicians had been able to use MRI for diagnostic scans but it was not possible to use it for interventional treatment because the guide wires used for cardiac catheterisation were made of metal.

Dr Aphrodite Tzifa is clinical research fellow at King’s College London, part of King’s Health Partners. She said: “We were faced with a problem because an MRI scanner uses a powerful magnetic field to construct images of the body. This magnetism not only caused the guide wire to move around inside the body, but also resulted in the tip of the wire heating up to temperatures of up to 70ºC.

“We have been working for the last three years to develop a new guide wire that can be used with MRI and have come up with a fibreglass wire that has small iron markers along it that can be seen on the scan.”

Professor Reza Razavi is professor of imaging science at King’s College London and consultant paediatric cardiologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, also part of King’s Health Partners. He said: “We are delighted with the results of Jack’s surgery. After years of research and development by a large team of scientists both here and in Germany, we have performed the procedure safely and successfully.

“This work is the perfect example of translational research in action. Through collaboration with the hospital and university in our partnership, we have been able to transfer research from the laboratory to the bedside and ensure that patients benefit from developments as quickly as possible. We are very proud of this great achievement, which is an important milestone for both the scientists and clinicians and researchers working on the technique, as well as the many patients who will benefit.”

Jack’s mum Kerry Warborn said: “At first I was unsure about allowing Jack to be the first person to have this operation, but once I had spoken to the doctors I felt much more at ease as I knew he was in safe hands.

“His surgery was a great success and within an hour of coming out of theatre he was running around and back to being his lively self. I feel proud that Jack has helped to progress the surgery that will help other children in the future.”

The new technique has received approval by the King’s College Hospital Research Ethics Committee and the new device used during catheterisation has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The fibreglass device has been developed in partnership with Phillips Healthcare Research in Hamburg, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology in Aachen, Hemoteg GmbH in Germany and the University Hospital of Aachen in Germany. This project has been supported by the NIHR comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College London, part of King’s Health Partners. The BRC aims to advance scientific understanding for the benefit of patients.

The vaccine is due to be tested on patients for the first time. Eventually it is hoped the drug, which activates the body’s own immune system against the leukaemia, could be used to treat other types of cancers.

Leukaemia is a cancer of the white blood cells and bone marrow affects around 7,200 patients a year. Around 4,300 die from the disease annually. Treatment comes in two stages - chemotherapy to rid the body of the disease, then to prevent it returning either further chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant. Latest survival rates show that more than half the people with leukaemia die within five years of diagnosis.

The first patients to be treated as part of the clinical trial at King’s College Hospital, have the form of the disease known as Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), the most common form in adults. Even with aggressive treatment half would usually find the disease returns. In the initial stages of the trial patients will be enrolled in the trial if they have had chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. If early trials are successful the vaccine may be tested in patients who cannot have a bone marrow transplant because they are unsuitable or a match cannot be found.

The study, led by Professors Ghulam Mufti and Farzin Farzaneh and Dr Nicola Hardwick, has involved intricate work to develop a man-made virus, which carries the two genes into the immune system.

Farzin Farzaneh, Professor of Molecular Medicine, in the Department of Haemato-oncology at the College, said if the trials are successful then the vaccine could be “rolled out” to treat other leukaemias and cancers. ‘It is the same concept as normal vaccines. The immune system is made to see something as foreign and can then destroy it itself. This has the chance to be curative.’

Cancer ‘vaccines’

The idea behind cancer ‘vaccines’ is not necessarily to prevent the disease. Instead, once a patient has been diagnosed, the ‘vaccine’ programmes the immune system to hunt down cancer cells and destroy them. The vaccine then prompts the immune system to recognise leukaemia cells if they return which prevents a relapse of the disease. The vaccine is created by removing cells from the patient’s blood and manipulating them in the laboratory.

The cells are given two genes which act as flags to help identify the leukaemia. It effectively focuses and boosts the immune system’s ability to seek out and destroy cancer cells. The research is due to be published in the Journal of Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy shortly.

The study follows successful experiments on experimental tumour models showing that injection with the gene modified tumour cells results in the induction of immune mediated tumour rejection.

The work, which has taken 20 years to develop, has more recently been funded by the Department of Health and various charities including: Cancer Research UK, the Leukaemia Research Fund (LRF) and the Elimination of Leukaemia Fund (ELF).

The research was carried out at King’s College London’s Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC), which is one of 17 new centres across the country launched to develop basic science into treatments for patients as quickly as possible.

King’s Health Partners members King’s College London and King’s College Hospital are jointly sponsoring this groundbreaking research.

The Cell Therapy Unit at King’s College Hospital - part of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) - is understood to be the first of its kind in the UK to receive funding from the NHS NIHR and will help forge a link between scientific discoveries in the laboratory and new and innovative treatments for patients.

The Cell Therapy Unit - costing £3 million in total and expected to open in Spring of 2011 - will pioneer new cell therapies for people living with leukaemia, diabetes and liver failure. The £1.4 million grant from the NIHR complements funds already raised for the project, which includes considerable philanthropic support.

The new unit will form a crucial part of the Clinical Research Facility (CRF) being built on the King’s site, which is being funded separately by the NHS and the Wellcome Foundation.

Cell therapies involve transplanting new cells into human tissue to treat disease. King’s is already an international centre for cell therapies with scientists and hospitals clinicians developing world and UK firsts in a ‘portacabin’ laboratory on the hospital site. The new facility will house teams researching stem cell and bone marrow therapies in a modern, state of the art facility.

Professor Anil Dhawan, Consultant Paediatric Hepatologist and Deputy Director of Research and Development at King’s, said the new facility is a huge step forward for the Trust and an example of how translational ‘bench to bedside’ research is starting to benefit patients:

“The creation of a new unit at King’s dedicated to cell therapies is exciting news for hospital clinicians and scientists, but more importantly our patients. Having a cell therapy research base at a hospital like King’s - which treats thousands of patients every year - will speed up the process of converting interesting results from the lab into meaningful outcomes for patients.”

The Cell Therapy Unit will help experts at King’s build on previous research-based innovations, especially in specialist areas such as diabetes, liver and leukaemia. Major advances at King’s in recent years include: 

• The UK’s first clinically successful islet transplantation in a Type 1 diabetes patient. This involved islet cells obtained from donor pancreases being transplanted by injection into the recipient’s liver. Once in the liver, the cells develop their own blood supply and begin producing insulin.  
• The concept of non-related bone marrow transplants for patients over 50, using minimal chemotherapy to suppress the patient’s immunity and replace it with a new immune system, which then kills the leukaemia cells. This technique is now used widely, especially for myeloid leukaemias, where King’s is an international centre of excellence.  
• A world first in liver transplantation, which involved taking healthy cells from donor livers and injecting them into the damaged livers of patients. The patient’s liver cells then regenerate and eventually the dysfunctional liver cells are replaced with new healthy ones. The technique pioneered at King’s is helping to free up more donor livers.

The Cell Therapy Unit will comprise laboratory, clinical and office space, and is part of a wider move by scientists and clinical experts at King’s, as well as King’s College London, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts (all members of King’s Health Partners AHSC), to use the latest research to improve patient care.

King’s Health Partners is one of only five accredited AHSCs in the UK and is a collaboration designed to reduce the time it takes for research discoveries and medical breakthroughs to become routine clinical practice. 

For further information contact:

Chris Rolfe, Corporate Communications
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Tel: 020 3299 3006, Fax: 020 3299 3207
e-mail: chris.rolfe@kch.nhs.uk

The results of the clinical drug-trial at King’s - which are reported in this week’s edition of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) - support the use of a novel and highly effective treatment for pure-red cell aplasia (PRCA), a form of anaemia in patients with chronic kidney disease which causes a sudden and severe decrease in the number of red blood cells produced by the bone marrow.

At present, the only recognised treatment for patients with the condition is regular blood transfusions, or alternatively powerful immunosuppressive drugs which can expose the patient to an increased risk of infections. The effectiveness of blood transfusions is limited, and they also carry a high risk of infection. Blood transfusions can also cause the body to develop antibodies which may complicate a later kidney transplant.

The trial at King’s involved giving monthly injections of Hematide (an experimental erythropoiesis-stimulating agent) to 14 patients with PRCA over a mean period of two years. All but one of the patients experienced an increase in red blood cell production, meaning blood transfusions were not needed.

Many patients with chronic kidney disease develop anaemia. This is because the failing kidneys struggle to produce enough erythropoietin, a hormone crucial to the process of red blood cell production. Many patients thus become anaemic, which can cause shortness of breath, loss of energy, and exacerbate problems associated within chronic kidney failure. These patients, for the last 20 years, have received erythropoietin replacement therapy for their anaemia.

Pure-red cell aplasia is a particularly severe form of the condition, which develops in 1 in 10,000 patients receiving erythropoietin therapy, in which the patients produce antibodies against their treatment. These antibodies not only abolish the effect of their erythropoietin therapy, but also completely shut down red cell production by the bone marrow, resulting in many patients feeling chronically exhausted and requiring blood transfusions every two weeks long-term.

Dr Iain Macdougall, consultant nephrologist at King’s and the lead investigator for the study, said:

“For the first time, we have a treatment that (once licensed) can rescue these severely debilitated patients from a lifetime of misery and dependence on blood transfusions. Prior to this, doctors were desperately using heavy immunosuppressive drugs to get rid of these antibodies, and exposing the patient to an increased risk of life-threatening infections. Many patients with this condition previously died”.

This trial is an example of how King’s, as well as King’s College London, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts (all members of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre), are leading cutting-edge research to improve patient care. King’s Health Partners is one of only five accredited AHSCs in the UK and is a collaboration designed to reduce the time it takes for research discoveries and medical breakthroughs to become routine clinical practice.

The research paper, A Peptide-Based Erythropoietin-Receptor Agonist for Pure Red-Cell Aplasia, was published in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

For media enquiries only contact:

Chris Rolfe, Corporate Communications
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Tel: 020 3299 3006, Fax: 020 3299 3207
e-mail: chris.rolfe@kch.nhs.uk

Robert Lechler, Executive Director of King’s Health Partners has signed a memorandum of understanding with his counterpart at UCSF, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost A Eugene Washington, MD.

The memorandum of understanding states that ‘both institutions see advantages in the development of strong academic links and relationships, and agree to establish ties of friendship and cooperation for the purpose of promoting mutual understanding and academic, cultural and personal exchange’.

The relationship between the two institutions will be overseen and coordinated by Professor Ellen Solomon, Research Dean and Head of the Division of Genetics & Development at King’s College London, and Dr Sam Hawgood, MBBS, Dean of the UCSF School of Medicine and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs.

‘We are delighted to pursue this strategic partnership because we believe our faculty and students will benefit from the intellectual and cultural exchange with their colleagues at King’s College London,’ Dr Hawgood said. ‘It is part of UCSF’s vision to foster fruitful research and academic collaborations with other institutions as the University works to fulfil its mission of advancing health worldwide.’

Professor Robert Lechler commented, ‘King’s Health Partners is very excited about partnering with UCSF, one of the world’s leading academic health science centres. Like UCSF, we have an outstanding history of research success, and strive to integrate this seamlessly with clinical care. We too have a global vision of healthcare, and have every expectation that this collaboration will lead to real breakthroughs in healthcare around the world.’

Among the possible areas of collaboration to be explored between UCSF and King’s Health Partners are:

• Exchange of clinical, academic and managerial staff
• Pursuit of short and long-term study programmes in both institutions
• Exchange of graduate studies, continuing education and distance learning
• Cooperation in training projects for specific areas of research and clinical training and
• Consultation for curriculum development.

Among the initial ideas for possible research collaboration are genetics, immunology and global health. In the coming weeks, officials from both institutions will discuss hosting joint workshops, in conjunction with the UK Science & Innovation team at the British Consulate San Francisco, where leading experts in these fields will share ideas on future collaboration.

Notes to editors

University of California, San Francisco
UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. Further information is available at www.ucsf.edu.

King’s College London
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher Education 2009) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has more than 21,000 students from nearly 140 countries, and more than 5,700 employees. King’s is in the second phase of a £1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.

King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King’s Health Partners. King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world’s leading research-led universities and three of London’s most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.

Further information
Melanie Haberstroh
International PR Officer
Email: melanie.haberstroh@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 3076

As part of the agreement, Quintiles has commissioned a state of the art research facility with 30 beds, for both patients and healthy volunteers involved in research, on the 14^th floor of Guy’s Hospital in central London. The facility, to be completed in early 2010, will now be known as the Quintiles Drug Research Unit at Guy’s Hospital. The facility significantly increases Quintiles’ capacity to conduct proof-of-concept programmes that help biopharmaceutical companies develop better medicines faster.

“The biopharmaceutical industry must bring new drugs to market faster and with greater predictability to address declining research and development productivity,” said Eddie Caffrey, Senior Vice President, Global Phase I, Quintiles.  “The smartest move is to invest in intelligent, early-stage development because, when done well, it has significant impact on speed and cost of the overall development process.”

A further strength of the collaboration is that it will bring Quintiles physically and professionally closer to academic and medical colleagues in the Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC), King’s Health Partners, and its National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).  The Quintiles Drug Research Unit at Guy’s Hospital will be perfectly positioned next to leading-edge Clinical Research Facilities and a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Pharmacy currently being developed by Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College London to drive forward the translation of science onto the wards -from ‘bench to bedside’ - and will also be adjacent to the home of the BRC’s new Faculty of Translational Medicine.

Ron Kerr, Chief Executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust said: “We want to deliver the best possible care to our patients, and we know that aligning clinical service excellence with translational research has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to do this.  We’re excited by the potential of this collaboration as it will lead to a smoother and faster clinical trials process, ensuring our patients and local people are amongst the first to benefit from any new discoveries.”

Professor Robert Lechler, Vice-Principal (Health), King’s College London and Director of King’s Health Partners, said: “King’s College London’s important partnership with Quintiles and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, one of our Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) partners,  is exactly the sort of collaboration we expect to see at the heart of King’s Health Partners.  Through this collaboration and the significant investments we have already made to develop first class clinical research facilities, we will create a powerful ‘experimental medicine’ hub across four floors of the Guy’s Hospital Tower, allowing us to harness the expertise of our world class scientists and clinicians to drive new discoveries in medicine and clinical treatment.”

The agreement between Quintiles, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London was brokered by King’s Business, the innovation support company for King’s College London.

This expansion builds on Quintiles’ existing, industry leading, network of Phase I facilities across Europe, Asia and the US.  Its experts and pioneers utilise integrated data platforms comprising technically advanced electronic data capture and reporting to facilitate early go/no-go decision making.  This new facility in Guy’s Hospital Tower, is an expansion of Quintiles existing facilities in Newcomen Street.

Press contacts:

• Andrea Ttofa, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust tel: 020 7188 5577 or email: andrea.ttofa@gstt.nhs.uk. Out of hours, please call our pager bureau on 08700 555500, ask for pager number 847704 and give the pager operator your message.
• Kate Moore, King’s College London, tel: 020 7848 4334 or email: kate.moore@kcl.ac.uk
• Charlotte Taylor, Quintiles Media Relations tel: 01344 708386 or email: media.info@quintiles.com

About Quintiles - Quintiles is the only fully integrated biopharmaceutical services company offering clinical, commercial, consulting and capital solutions worldwide. The Quintiles network of 23,000 engaged professionals in more than 50 countries around the globe works with an unwavering commitment to patients, safety and ethics. Quintiles helps biopharmaceutical companies navigate risk and seize opportunities in an environment where change is constant. For more information, please visit www.quintiles.com.

About Guy’s and St Thomas’ - Guy’s and St Thomas’ provides around 850,000 patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services every year. As one of the biggest NHS Trusts in the UK, it employs around 10,000 staff. The Trust works in partnership with the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Biomedical Sciences of King’s College London and other Higher Education Institutes to deliver high quality education and research. Website: www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk

About King’s College London - King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher Education 2008) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has 19,700 students from more than 150 countries, and 5,400 employees. An investment of over £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate in recent years

About King’s Health Partners - King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King’s Health Partners.

King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world’s leading research-led universities and three of London’s most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services.

King’s Health Partners is one of only five AHSCs in the UK and brings together an unrivalled range and depth of clinical and research expertise, spanning both physical and mental health. Our combined strengths will drive improvements in care for patients, allowing them to benefit from breakthroughs in medical science and receive leading edge treatment at the earliest possible opportunity.     

For more information, visit www.kingshealthpartners.org