About SGUL Research

Research interests on the combined Medical School and Hospital site are extremely wide-ranging, encompassing a spectrum from leading-edge fundamental investigations to applied clinical and Health Services research. It is the School's explicit intention to link basic and clinical research strategically in order to capitalise on their co-location on a single site.

The School has a strong tradition of giving younger investigators the intellectual space to develop their careers. Positive interdisciplinary and interdepartmental interactions are the norm. St George's achieved excellent ratings in the last Research Assessment Exercise. Funding for research comes mainly from external sources, which are of course very varied but include the Research Councils, major charities, a wide spectrum of specialist charities, and pharmaceutical companies and other industrial sponsors. Total research income was about £15M last year. There are two pharmaceutical companies on site, Antisoma and Onyvax, that work collaboratively with researchers in the medical school. There are about 150 active researchers in permanent positions, with about 200 research assistants and 140 Ph.D. and M.D. students (both full and part-time).

These investigators have close links at the clinical level to research and patient bases in associated hospitals and in General Practices around the south of London and south-east of England through the STARNET network. Hospitals include the South West London and St George’s (formerly Pathfinder) NHS Trust provides a large psychiatric patient base at the near-by Springfield Hospital. There are also good links with the Epsom & St. Helier Hospital which, like St. George's Hospital, is a large general hospital as well as with a number of other hospitals in the South London area.

Research on the site is nurtured by several theme groups that organise open days with poster presentations and invited lectures. These meet at intervals and are run by elected organising committees. Their aim is to co-ordinate research in their area of interest and to draw together all those on site with a common interest in the theme and to encourage collaborations and organise joint grant applications. So far theme groups in Cardiovascular, Cancer, Intracellular Pathogens and Molecular Medicine have been established.

Research Ethics

In dealing with scientific misconduct St. George's subscribes to the policies and procedures laid down by the Office of Scientific Integrity, USA. More details are here.