Professor & Director of the Roger Williams Institute of Hepatology

The Roger Williams Institute of Hepatology

The Roger Williams Institute of Hepatology is governed by the Foundation for Liver Research, which has supported research programmes into liver disease for more than fifty years, including much of the early pioneering work at KCH into liver transplantation and acute liver failure. Professor Roger Williams established the Foundation and acted as its Director of Research until his death in 2020.

In 2016 the IoH relocated to a new facility on the Denmark Hill campus of KCH as part of an agreement with King’s and KCH to maximise the opportunities on campus for clinical translational research into liver diseases. The centre houses state-of-the-art laboratories for up to 65 scientists, and research is organised around the theme of liver cell injury and repair. Current areas of research include liver immunobiology in viral hepatitis, alcohol-related liver disease and liver cancer (Dr Shilpa Chokshi), fatty liver disease pathophysiology (Prof. Michelle Vacca), liver stems cells and tissue engineering (Dr Luca Urbani), gut liver axis in advanced chronic liver diseases (Dr Vishal Patel), mechanisms of cell death in advanced alcohol-related liver disease (Dr Gautam Mehta), metabonomics biomarkers of liver disease (Dr Jane Cox), and liver cancer prognostication using -omics data (Mrs Shirin Khorsandi). The IoH has established strong collaborative links with multiple academic institutions worldwide, and organises weekly seminars open to KCH and King’s investigators as well as international workshops in cutting-edge areas of liver research. The IoH and the Foundation for Liver Research have worked closely with the Lancet Commission into Liver Disease in the UK to raise awareness of the main causes of liver diseases, and to design plans to tackle the growing rate of liver disease mortality in the UK.

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

KCH is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching hospitals, training over 900 dentists, 750 doctors and 300 nurses every year. Its 10,500 staff provide over 1 million patient contacts a year. 9,000 babies are delivered by its hospitals each year, and over 750 patients come to its emergency departments every day. The Trust is recognized internationally for its work in liver disease and transplantation. KCH runs the largest comprehensive liver service in the UK. The following benchmarks illustrate the size of KCH liver clinical services:
• >50,000 individual patient visits are dealt with at the liver outpatient service yearly, including patients from the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
• >4000 liver histopathology specimens are processed yearly at the Liver Histopathology Unit, located within the ILS.
• 220-250 liver transplants are performed yearly including 50 paediatric liver transplants, which represents Europe’s largest liver transplant unit.
• On a monthly basis there are 55-65 new referrals with hepatocellular carcinoma, 190-210 new referrals to the hepatobiliary service, and 30-35 new referrals with neuroendocrine cancer, which accounts for over 1500 new referrals for all liver and pancreatobiliary tumour groups yearly, and approximately 350 hepato-pancreatobiliary surgical procedures.
• The Paediatric Liver Centre is the largest of the 3 paediatric liver transplant/hepatobiliary services in the UK, and includes the only UK clinical hepatocyte transplantation programme.
• The largest dedicated liver intensive care unit in Europe (15 intensive care beds and 4 high dependency beds) offering state-of-the-art care for patients presenting with acute and acute-on-chronic liver failure, as well as those undergoing liver transplantation and complex hepatobiliary surgery.

The adult and paediatric liver services at KCH take a multi-disciplinary approach, working closely with the alcohol care team, gastroenterology, oncology, obstetric team, HIV team and histopathologists and radiologists. Its services are well supported by specialist nurses, dietitians, and pharmacists.

In addition, KCH supports a standalone Liver Research Tissue Bank with processes for obtaining consent and donation of blood and tissue samples integrated into standard clinical practice. The Liver Tissue Bank consent to donation gives broad, generic approval for the use of samples and data in research. The NIHR King’s Clinical Research Facility on the Denmark Hill Campus of KCH/King’s offers state-of-the-art clinical research facilities including an experimental medicine suite, a cell therapy unit and a clinical trials unit. The campus also provides facilities for animal research. All of these research facilities are available to staff from the IoH.