Chung Kian Fan

Professor Kian Fan Chung is a renowned academic and clinician at Imperial College London, serving as Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Head of Experimental Studies Medicine at the National Heart & Lung Institute. He is also an Honorary Consultant Respiratory Physician at the Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Trust. His roles include leading the Asthma Consortium and contributing to major research initiatives such as the Asthma UK-MRC Asthma Centre and the MRC/Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma.

Education:

• 2001: Doctor of Science (Medicine), University of London
• 1992: Fellow, Royal College of Physicians, London
• 1983: MD, University of London
• 1977: MRCP (UK), Royal College of Physicians
• 1975: MBBS, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London

Research Interests: Professor Chung’s work focuses on corticosteroid insensitivity in asthma, environmental pollution effects on respiratory health, mitochondrial injury mechanisms, cough hypersensitivity syndrome, airway smooth muscle biology, and precision medicine. He translates these studies into clinical applications for asthma and COPD treatment.

Awards & Honors:

• Elected Fellow of the European Respiratory Society (2014)
• Delivered the prestigious Sadoul Lecture (2014)
• Senior Investigator, NIHR (2016–2020)
• Emeritus Senior Investigator, NIHR (2020–present)

Grants & Collaborations:

• Lead PI on MRC-funded PRISM project (£2.5m, 2019–2023)
• Co-PI on GSK’s single-cell sequencing asthma study (£1.5m, 2020–2023)
• NIHR/India collaboration on air pollution health effects (DAPHNE, £1.6m)

Labs & Teams: Leads the Asthma Consortium (NIHR Biomedical Research Unit) and collaborates with global networks like the UBIOPRED EU consortium on severe asthma mechanisms.