International honour for Guy's and St Thomas' doctor

Guy’s and St Thomas’ critical care physician Dr Manu Shankar-Hari has received the Lowry Fink Fellowship from the International Sepsis Forum in recognition of his work in sepsis.

The Lowry Fink Fellowship is awarded to one scientist worldwide each year for their research in this area. 

Dr Shankar-Hari said: "My research aims to find ways we can improve outcomes for sepsis patients. This Fellowship allows me to interact with international leaders in sepsis research and learn from their work. It’s also a global recognition of my research into sepsis and will help me explore different approaches to reduce the burden of sepsis. My hope is that this will help my research to lead to benefits for patients.”

Sepsis is a serious complication of infection. It occurs when the body’s immune system goes into overdrive in response to an infection. Without quick treatment, it can lead to multiple organ failure and death.

Sepsis is common, with one in four of the people admitted to intensive care units in England having sepsis. One in three adult patients admitted to intensive care units in England with sepsis die in hospital.

Although various medications have been tested in clinical trials, there is still no cure for sepsis. Dr Shankar-Hari’s research explores ways to improve acute and longer-term outcomes in critically ill adult sepsis patients.

Dr Shankar-Hari was appointed as a consultant physician in Intensive Care Medicine at Guy's and St Thomas' in 2009, having previously trained as a junior doctor at the Trust. His research training includes a PhD in immunology awarded for his work on B lymphocyte biology in sepsis from King’s College London and a Masters in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is now a reader in the Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, King’s College London.

Dr Shankar-Hari was awarded a prestigious NIHR Clinician Scientist Award in 2016 for studying how to treat the longer term risk of infection and risk of death in sepsis survivors. He is undertaking a clinical trial (VACIRiSS trial) funded by this award to test the effect of vaccines to reduce the longer-term complications of sepsis.

The International Sepsis Forum (ISF) is a collaborative effort between industry and academia that focuses solely on management of patients with sepsis.

The Lowry-Fink Fellowship is named after Stephen Lowry and Mitchell Fink to recognise their contributions to advancing the science of sepsis. Fellows gain from interaction with the council and working on activities with the International Sepsis Forum that will help further develop their international profile.