Professor Gareth Ackland

Clinical Professor of Perioperative Medicine
Centre: Translational Medicine and Therapeutics
Email: g.ackland@qmul.ac.ukWebsite: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/ccpmg/ Twitter: @AcklandLab
Profile
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0565-5164
Gareth graduated from St John’s College, Oxford University Medical School having completed an intercalated PhD supported by a Wellcome Trust Prize Studentship. He completed clinical training in general medicine, anesthesiology and critical care mostly on the UCL-linked clinical rotation, having also spent 18 months as a consultant in anaesthesia at Stanford University Medical Center, California, USA. Having completed an Academy of Medical Sciences/Health Foundation clinician scientist intermediate research training fellowship award at University College London in 2014, Gareth was appointed Senior Lecturer in Perioperative Medicine at Queen Mary University of London in 2015 and Clinical Professor of Perioperative Medicine in 2020, primarily based at the William Harvey Research Institute.
Current clinical duties are based in perioperative medicine at the Royal London Hospital providing anaesthesia for patients undergoing major elective surgery and emergency procedures following major trauma. He is an active member of several national and international societies for anaesthesia and intensive care medicine. He teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The focus of Gareth’s research centres on improving outcomes for patients following major surgery and critical illness through developing translational models, specifically focussing on autonomic regulation of tissue injury. In addition, he contributes to many large multi-centre studies including VISION-UK and METS. Gareth was awarded the British Oxygen Company Chair in anaesthesia in 2016, to support further translational laboratory studies focussed on the role of autonomic dysfunction fuelling perioperative organ injury.
Research
Group members
Ana Gutierrez del Arroyo, Jenifer Sanchez and Shamir Karmali
Summary
Neurobiology of autonomic control as applied to inflammation, perioperative organ injury and critical illness.
Publications
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Menuet C, Ben-Tal A, Linossier A et al. (2025). Redefining respiratory sinus arrhythmia as respiratory heart rate variability: an international Expert Recommendation for terminological clarity. nameOfConference
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Staibano P, Garg AX, Chan MTV et al. (2025). Myocardial Injury After Major Head and Neck Surgery. nameOfConference
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Ackland GL, Patel ABU, Miller S et al. (2025). Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation and exercise capacity in healthy volunteers: a randomized trial. nameOfConference
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Pinto BB, Shelley B, Dias P et al. (2025). Targeted heart rate control using the funny current inhibitor ivabradine to reduce morbidity in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery: study protocol for a phase 2a, triple-blind, placebo-controlled randomised trial. nameOfConference
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Egan TC, Abbott TEF, Ackland GL et al. (2025). Handheld ultrasound versus palpation technique for radial artery cannulation in conscious patients before noncardiac surgery: an open-label randomised controlled study. nameOfConference
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Patel ABU, Bibawy PPWM, Althonayan JIM et al. (2025). Corrigendum to ‘Effect of transauricular nerve stimulation on perioperative pain: a single-blind, analyser-masked, randomised controlled trial’ (Br J Anaesth 2023; 130: 458–76). nameOfConference
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Ackland G (publicationYear). Preoperative activation of the renineangiotensin system and myocardial injury in noncardiac surgery: exploratory mechanistic analysis of the SPACE randomised controlled trial. nameOfConference
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Sikandar S, Ackland GL (2025). Chronic pain: a modifiable target to reduce perioperative cardiovascular morbidity. nameOfConference
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Hughes C, Ackland G, Shelley B (2024). Perioperative myocardial injury. nameOfConference
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Theparambil SM, Kopach O, Braga A et al. (2024). Adenosine signalling to astrocytes coordinates brain metabolism and function. nameOfConference
Sponsors
- British Oxygen Company Chair in Anaesthesia (2016-2020)
- British Journal of Anaesthesia/ Royal College of Anaesthetists Basic Science fellowship (2014-2019)
- British Heart Foundation Programme grant (co-PI; 2015-2020)
- Obstetric Anaesthetists Association (2014-2016)
- Academy of Medical Sciences/Health Foundation Clinician Scientist award (2009-2014) and National Institute for Health Research, UK
Collaborators
Internal
- Prof. Rupert Pearse
- Dr. Michael O’Dwyer
- Dr. John Prowle
- Dr. Sian Henson
- Prof. Andy Tinker
External
- Prof. Alexander Gourine (UCL)
- Prof. Andrey Abramov (UCL)
- Prof Andrew Tobin (Univ. Cambridge)
- Prof. Pierre Lambiase (UCL)