Key contacts
We are located across both Bloomsbury and Hampstead campuses.
Head of Department
Head of Department
Catriona Heredia
PA / Administration
Click to email. c.heredia@ucl.ac.uk Click to call. 020 3549 5979Our work
Respiratory diseases are one of the commonest causes of ill health and mortality both globally and within the UK.
UCL Respiratory has around ten investigators researching how respiratory disease develops, identifying who is most at risk, and novel approaches to their management using diverse approaches. The diseases investigated include most of the common respiratory problems, including lung infections, lung cancers, COPD and ILD.
Our research is funded by an extensive portfolio of external grant funding (including multiple Wellcome, MRC and NIHR awards). It involves close collaborations within UCL, across the UK, and internationally, with centres in Africa, North and South America, Asia, Australasia, and Europe.
UCL Respiratory investigators work closely with their clinical colleagues. They often hold dual appointments with University College London Hospitals (UCLH) or the Royal Free Hospitals Trusts and are integral to the UCLH Biomedical Research Centre. These links help support translational and clinical research and ensures our research remains patient focussed.
UCL Respiratory investigators provide national and international leadership through positions on grant-giving organisations, conference organisation and clinical guideline committees, and contribute to technical reports from the World Health Organisation and other bodies.
Airways Diseases
We conduct research into airways diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, bronchiectasis, and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, which are all common causes of respiratory ill-health worldwide.
Intensive Care
The Bloomsbury Intensive Care Medicine Institute offers an internationally renowned critical care research programme and a very active experimental and clinical research portfolio.
Interstitial and Inflammatory Lung Disease
The Interstitial Lung Disease programme unites experts to unravel molecular pathomechanisms of ILD and transform its diagnosis and management through translational, fundamental and clinical research.
Pulmonary Oncology
UCL Respiratory leads groundbreaking research in lung cancer - advancing early detection, understanding disease biology, and driving innovative treatments through clinical trials.
Respiratory Infection
We focus on improved treatment and prevention of lung infections which are common causes of infectious mortality worldwide, including those caused by mycobacteria, pneumococcus, COVID and influenza.
Institute of Nuclear Medicine
The Institute of Nuclear Medicine is one of the most research active departments in Europe. We apply cutting-edge biological research undertaken on the UCL campus to overcome the diseases affecting our patients at University College Hospital and beyond.
Nuclear Medicine
The Institute of Nuclear Medicine is the UK's largest single site nuclear medicine department, serving an ever-larger number of patients (over 19,500 in 2020).
Teaching and training
UCL Respiratory hosts a specialist MSc Respiratory Clinical Science. We are a major centre for clinical and non-clinical PhD students with a high success rate in obtaining external fellowships, and with our students frequently winning national and international prizes for their research. UCL Respiratory has regular NIHR-funded Academic Clinical Fellow (ACF) and Clinical Lecturer (CL) Respiratory posts, with many of the holders of these posts going to develop a career in academic medicine.
Respiratory Clinical Science MSc
Set yourself up to work at the highest levels of respiratory medicine. This MSc focuses on studying the scientific and clinical basis of respiratory diseases.
Our centres
We are made up of the following research centres and clusters.
Centre for Inflammation and Tissue Repair
Professor of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology
Head: Centre for Inflammation and Tissue Repair
Lungs for Living Research Centre
Centre for Respiratory Biology
Institute of Nuclear Medicine
