Dr Dominic Hughes is a Clinical Associate Professor in Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis and Chronic Suppurative Lung Disease within the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, and an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at The Royal Brompton Hospital, London.

Dr Hughes undertook a PhD at the NHLI, awarded in 2022 and supervised by Professor Jane Davies. This work focussed on the interaction between two common CF airway pathogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Aspergillus fumigatus, and the impact of co-infection on CF airway health. He returned to the NHLI to establish an independent research group in 2024, and continues to study complex poly-microbial infections, elucidating the mechanisms that organisms use to compete or collaborate with resident infections and host cells in the airway environment. This work explores common CF pathogen co-infections, with a particular focus on Pseudomonas, Aspergillus and Staphylococcus aureus, and aims to determine how multiple infections impact on airway health and culture-based diagnostic tests. His airway infection research interests also encompass the development of novel methods to detect airway infection, novel therapeutics for the treatment of antimicrobial resistant pathogens, and sensitive methods to detect early-stage airway disease.

Dr Hughes is a member of the London Clinical Trial Accelerator Platform (CTAP) group and acts as a principal investigator for commercial and investigator-led trials of novel CF therapeutics. Clinically he looks after children with a wide range of respiratory problems and has a special interest in difficult CF diagnostics. He is an associate editor for the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis.

Dr Hughes completed his undergraduate Biochemistry BSc at the University of Nottingham in 2003, prior to a research masters degree studying the impact of cigarette smoke exposure in alveolar macrophages at the University of Manchester. He completed post-graduate medical training at the University of Warwick in 2008, and obtained specialist certification as a respiratory paediatrician following training in London.