A royal visit

The Princess Royal visited the partnership to find out more about the latest innovations happening in neurosciences.

On Friday 8 March 2024, The Princess Royal, in her role as Chancellor of the University of London, met with researchers, clinicians and collaborators of the UNITY Project at the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, King’s College London, to learn about the introduction of non-invasive, low-cost portable MRIs to sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries. 

The UNITY Consortium

The UNITY (Ultra low-field Neuroimaging In The Young) Consortium is a project led by Prof Steve Williams, Head of the Centre and Professor of Imaging Sciences at King’s College London, and now sees 25 portable scanners distributed across 15 countries to assess brain health and development in babies and young children. 

During the visit, Her Royal Highness met with researchers from both King’s College London and Hyperfine®, who developed the portable scanner used by UNITY project. 

Her Royal Highness was shown a demonstration of the scanner to see first-hand the ease of use of this system. She also talked to researchers and clinicians who are currently using these scanners in different settings, including countries that have benefited from using them outside the confines of a typical radiology department. 

Her Royal Highness also learned about the various research areas within the UNITY project, including how maternal nutrition and environment can impact brain development. 

The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, brings together community, clinical, academic and industry partners globally to improve the use of the portable scanners through trainings and knowledge sharing. 

Her Royal Highness was accompanied by: 

• Mr Anthony Griffiths, Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London; 
• Prof Wendy Thomson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of London; 
• Prof Richard Trembath, Senior Vice President (Health and Life Sciences) King’s College London and Executive Director, King’s Health Partners; 
• Prof Matthew Hotopf, Executive Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, and Academic Director of the Mind & Body Programme, King’s Health Partners. 

We are delighted to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences. This project is an exemplar of the type of world-class research that we conduct at King’s College London, and it is a great honour to have the opportunity to show Her Royal Highness our commitment to be in service to society.

- Prof Richard Trembath, Senior Vice President (Health and Life Sciences) King’s College London, and Executive Director, King’s Health Partners. 

It's with great pride that we're able to host Her Royal Highness at the Institute. The UNITY project is testament to our ongoing determination to transform care for people affected by mental illness and neurological conditions, no matter where in the world they live.

- Prof Matthew Hotopf, Executive Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience King’s College London, and Academic Director of the Mind & Body Programme, King’s Health Partners. 

Hyperfine’s collaboration with King’s College London has further enabled our vision of making brain MRI accessible anywhere in the world become a reality at the Unity program sites. The collaboration with global luminaries in the field of MR has augmented our portable brain MRI technology, and most importantly, has given us the incredibly rewarding experience of helping hundreds of children, their families and clinicians in low-resource settings.

- Maria Sainz, President and CEO of Hyperfine. 

The Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences is home to Department of Neuroimaging in the School of Neuroscience, and is part of King’s Health Partners Neurosciences. The centre also provides NHS services under the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.