DrBrijesh Patel

I am Clinical Associate Professor (Reader) in Cardiothoracic Critical Care at Imperial College London and Honorary Consultant in Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Extracorporeal Life Support (ECMO) at Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals, part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

My research programme focuses on precision cardiorespiratory critical care, integrating mechanistic biology, advanced physiology, imaging, artificial intelligence and multicentre clinical trials to develop personalised therapies for patients with life-threatening cardiac and respiratory failure. Our work spans the full translational research pathway—from discovery science and experimental medicine, through biomarker development and advanced physiological phenotyping, to embedded mechanistic clinical trials, implementation science and international research collaborations.

I graduated with distinction from University College London Medical School, where I was awarded the Sir Edward Meyerstein Foundation Scholarship. Following postgraduate training in General Internal Medicine at the Hammersmith Hospital, I completed specialist training in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine. I was appointed as one of the first NIHR Academic Clinical Fellows at Imperial College London before undertaking a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowship, leading to a PhD investigating tumour necrosis factor (TNF) signalling in acute lung injury. This work demonstrated that TNF-mediated death signalling contributes to alveolar epithelial dysfunction during acute lung injury and was recognised with the Intensive Care Society Gold Medal for Research, together with several national and international awards.

Following completion of my PhD, I was awarded an NIHR Clinical Lectureship at Imperial College London, where I expanded my research into regulated cell death, immunothrombosis and the biological mechanisms underpinning severe cardiorespiratory failure requiring extracorporeal organ support. Since then, I have established a translational research programme supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust, NIHR, Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia, European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, Horizon 2020 and other national and international funding bodies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I led several national and international collaborative research programmes investigating the biological mechanisms of severe COVID-19. Our group was among the first to characterise the pulmonary immunothrombotic phenotype of severe disease, work published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine that significantly advanced understanding of COVID-19-associated lung injury and informed subsequent international research.

Today, my research programme seeks to understand the biological and physiological heterogeneity of severe cardiac and respiratory failure and translate these discoveries into precision therapeutics. We integrate mechanistic laboratory science, advanced physiological phenotyping, biomarker discovery, imaging, physics-informed machine learning, embedded mechanistic clinical trials and implementation science to develop personalised approaches to critical care.

I am Chief Investigator of the NIHR-funded ROMEO trial evaluating personalised lung-rest ventilation during venovenous ECMO and lead the HITEC translational research platform investigating the biological response to extracorporeal circulation. I also lead the SOCRATES programme, investigating physiology-guided weaning from venoarterial ECMO using Pressure-Controlled Retrograde Trial Off (PCRTO). Our programme collaborates closely with international partners through the JULIET programme in North America, with the shared ambition of establishing globally coordinated approaches to precision extracorporeal support.

I serve on the Scientific Committee of ECMONet and lead the UK National Adult Respiratory ECMO Network Research Working Group, coordinating collaborative research across the national ECMO network and strengthening partnerships between leading centres in the UK, Europe, North America and Australasia.

Alongside my research, I am passionate about developing the next generation of clinician scientists through interdisciplinary education, mentorship and international collaboration. I welcome enquiries from prospective students, clinical fellows, postdoctoral researchers and collaborators who share our ambition to advance precision therapeutics for patients with life-threatening cardiac and respiratory failure.