BRC Leadership Team

Robin Ali is Professor of Human Molecular Genetics at King’s College London, Director of The KCL Centre for Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine and Director of the KCL Gene Therapy Vector Facility. He has a record of world class translational research in the field of novel gene and cell therapies for retinal disorders and leads King’s College London in advanced therapies, working to strengthen and enhance the delivery of the pipeline of gene and cell therapies from pre-clinical proof of concept to first-in-human studies and commercial development.

Also as the Director of the Advanced Therapies Accelerator, Professor Ali leads on the implementation of the strategy for advanced therapies within our BRC. He is a Visiting Professor at Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan and a Founder and initial Chief Scientific Officer of MeiraGTx, a Nasdaq-listed gene therapy company with offices in London and New York. He was appointed as an NIHR Senior Investigator in 2009 and retains Emeritus status.

Our BRC is embedded within the Research & Development Department at Guy’s and St Thomas’ who provide leadership across our Centre.

Kate Blake is the Director for Research Strategy within the Trust where she has played a major role in the strategic development of the Trust’s broad research agenda since 2000.  Her remit includes the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre awards since 2007, NIHR Clinical Research Facility (from 2012), hosting the South London NIHR Clinical Research Network (since 2007) and NIHR Clinical Research Network Coordinating Centre as well as representing research in the Trust at a national level.  She has a wealth of experience in research management with previous experience at Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council.  Kate is a founding member of the Leadership Team within UKRD, the community of R&D Leaders in the NHS.

Charles Wolfe is Professor of Public Health at King’s College London and Director of R&D for Guy’s and St Thomas’. He is currently the King’s Health Partners Lead for Public Health; his research addresses epidemiological and health services research questions in stroke including estimating acute and longer-term needs, the risk of stroke and chronic disease register methodology; and early supported discharge, secondary prevention, carer support and qualitative studies. He was appointed as an NIHR Senior Investigator in 2008 and retains Emeritus status.