Ara Darzi - Biography#

Professor Darzi is internationally renowned for his innovative and groundbreaking research in surgical technology and improving clinical practice through innovation. In addition to his pioneering work in minimally invasive surgery and robotics, he has made extensive contributions to patient safety, simulation, healthcare design and policy.

His research has been outstanding, with over 1,500 peer-reviewed research papers, an h-index of 160 and grant awards in excess of £180M. As one of the foremost clinical convergence scientists, Professor Darzi takes an inter-disciplinary approach to global challenges including recently as Senior Investigator of the REACT study which supported UK government efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19 and drove national uptake of remote monitoring.

His research has also supported high quality health services through new scientific knowledge and translational research in the fields of patient safety, electronic medication management, data-driven approaches and Artificial Intelligence systems in imaging and patient deterioration, and remote digital rehabilitation applications.

In recognition of his many achievements, Professor Darzi has been elected to several esteemed international scientific academies, including as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was knighted for his services in medicine and surgery in 2002. He was introduced to the United Kingdom's House of Lords in 2007 as Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham and appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health.

Since then, Professor Darzi has held leadership roles across the NHS, academia and industry. As Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, Professor Darzi leads 150 staff to solve key healthcare challenges including the effect of climate change, antimicrobial resistance and precision medicine. He also supports the development of future health leadership through educational programmes and supervision of researchers at all stages. Most recently, Professor Darzi was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to analyse the current state of the NHS; the findings published in his report were met with wide acclaim and significantly influenced the direction of health policy in England.