Event Insights
King’s Health Partners Annual Conference 2025: Partnership, Innovation, and Capacity Building
On 15 October 2025, 591 people joined King’s Health Partners hybrid 2025 Annual Conference, exploring how collaboration across the partnership drives better outcomes for patients, staff, and communities.
Working Together to Make Change
A panel chaired by Professor Graham Lord, KHP Executive Director, highlighted how clinical academic partnerships support the NHS 10 Year Plan and Life Sciences Growth Plan. Speakers emphasised that real innovation requires breaking down organisational silos and working across boundaries.
Supporting Biotech and Innovation
Professor Robin Ali, Academic Lead for Advanced Therapies at KHP, spoke about how the partnership provides the infrastructure and expertise that biotech companies need to thrive in experimental medicine and clinical trials.
Students as Partners in Change
Third-year medical student Shreya Shah shared her perspective:
“We have a lot that we want to bring to the table. We have a lot of curiosity. We’re quite enthusiastic, and we have a fresh way of thinking… the right opportunities can really benefit not just us, but also the wider health care community.”
Her insights highlight the importance of exposing students to the full breadth of research and clinical innovations across the partnership.
Engagement and Equity in Research
Exploring KHP’s role as a capacity builder, Dr Juliana Onwumere explained how KHP can build sustained and reciprocal relationships between community research teams and KHP research teams. Taking lessons from her work with the Building Equity and Diversity (BREAD) in research network, Dr Onwumere said:
“Our research is linked to service excellence, so it’s not an option for us not to be included, but also it’s not an option to not engage.”
Dr Onwumere’s advice for research teams across the partnership was:
- Establish what you’re trying to do;
- Identify the voices that are missing;
- Try to understand the language of the different groups;
- Listen to what patients and communities are telling you;
- Share your research with the people who have been involved.
Dr Onwumere said the biggest issue for underserved groups is how research outcomes are shared with the patients and communities involved.
Get Involved
KHP’s Annual Conference showcased how the partnership supports staff and students as connectors, capacity builders, and creators of opportunity.
You can get involved by:
Registering for KHP events and courses to expand your network
Applying for fellowships with the KHP Centre for Translation Medicine to build research capacity
Signing up for KHP News to stay updated on collaborative opportunities
Work with us
Be part of our mission to create equitable health and social care systems. Together, we can make a difference.