Care

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Research

Welcome to the research section of our website. Medical research is essential for improving the health of both adults and children and developing new and improved medical treatments. This is why research is a major priority at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Together with Imperial College London we are one of the UK’s first academic health science centres (AHSCs), combining the healthcare expertise of our five hospitals with the academic excellence of one of the world’s leading universities. We are also a comprehensive biomedical research centre, one of only five such centres in England. We are committed to promoting a culture of research across our entire workforce.

These key strengths enable us to bring the benefits of cutting-edge research to our patients faster than ever before.

Clinical trials
The best way to work out which treatments work best is to test them in a clinical trial, a type of research study that relies on the participation of volunteers. We have a high-quality, comprehensive programme of clinical trials that will lead to real benefits for our local population and beyond.

Research centres
We also have designated research centres based at our hospitals that prioritise certain medical areas. These include:

Other research centres
Hammersmith and St Mary's hospitals house laboratories that are part of the British Heart Foundation centre of research excellence at Imperial College London's campus in South Kensington. The College's centre for infection prevention and management is partly based at Hammersmith and Charing Cross hospitals.

Looking ahead
Over the next five years we will improve and speed up the process of getting new treatments, diagnostic tests and medical technology from the laboratory into our hospitals. We will also double the amount of research we do as an academic health science centre.

To help us achieve this, we are setting up a joint research office that will coordinate activities between our five hospitals and the faculty of medicine at Imperial College London. We will strengthen our work in early-stage clinical trials through an academically led clinical trials unit and a centre for translational medicine. We will also help accelerate new medical knowledge and patient benefits by establishing the most effective ways to work with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.