Researcher profile

Charlotte Summers

Professor Charlotte Summers is Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Professor of Medicine at the University of Southampton. She is also an Honorary Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at University Hospitals Southampton. Prior to taking up her roles at Southampton, she was Director of the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute and Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on acute and critical illness, particularly lung injury and respiratory failure, and spans fundamental mechanisms, translational medicine, and large-scale clinical trials. She has led and co-led major NIHR-funded studies, including the HEAL-COVID platform trial, and contributed to international collaborations such as GenOMICC and ISARIC4C. She has successfully secured and managed research programmes totalling more than £25 million in partnership with NIHR, UKRI-MRC, Wellcome, the British Heart Foundation, and global industry and charity partners. Professor Summers has a strong record in policy and national leadership, including core membership of the UK COVID Therapeutics Advisory Panel, expert advisory roles for the UK Cabinet Office and DHSC, and co-authorship of influential NIHR and Academy of Medical Sciences reports. She has shaped national research strategy through leadership of the MRC Experimental Medicine Panel, the NIHR National Critical Care Speciality Group, and multi-sector collaborations such as the MRC-GSK EMINENT. Charlotte is committed to training the next generation of clinician-scientists, having supervised numerous clinical academic trainees, PhD students, and postdoctoral researchers, and previously directed the University of Cambridge Integrated Clinical Academic Training programme. The University of Cambridge recognised her contributions to education with the Pilkington Prize in 2021. Her work exemplifies cross-sector collaboration, combining academic leadership, NHS service, and partnerships with government and industry to accelerate discovery and improve patient outcomes.