The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology

Funded institutes

The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology (KIR) was founded in 1965/66 with a donation of £500,000 by Terence and Mathilda Kennedy.

The institute originally occupied a site in Bute Gardens next to the West London Hospital in Hammersmith and was the first research institute in the world totally dedicated to Rheumatology. The KIR has been supported by arc since its foundation and currently receives a core grant of over £3.5 million a year which underpins all its major scientific and clinical activities. In 1992, the KIR acquired the Sunley Research Centre at Charing Cross Hospital and, following refurbishment and building of a new wing, relocated their in April 1997. In 2000 the KIR was incorporated into Imperial College as a separate division of Imperial College School of Medicine.

The KIR has had five Directors, Dr Dugald Gardener (1966-1971), Dr Leonard Glynn (1972-1977), Dr Helen Muir (1977-1990), Professor Ravinder (Tiny) Maini (1990 -2002) and Professor Mark Feldmann (from September 2002).

Under Professor Maini's direction the major scientific focus of the KIR was the role of mediators of inflammation (cytokines) in arthritis and the design of therapeutic agents to modulate their effects. This resulted in the discovery that TNFa plays a major role in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and that blocking its action results in dramatic alleviation of symptoms. Following successful clinical trials, TNFa blockers are now an established and important treatment for RA and likely to be effective, also, in other rheumatic diseases. For this work Professors Maini and Feldmann were awarded the prestigious Crafoord Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2000 and Professor Maini was Knighted for services to Rheumatology in 2003. With the appointment of Professor Feldmann (pictured) as the new Director, research into cytokines and new therapies for RA is continuing but there is also a focus on other diseases including osteoarthritis.

The KIR is unique in that it brings together scientists and clinicians, all with the common aim of discovering the underlying cause of rheumatic diseases, designing new therapies and organising clinical trials to test their effectiveness. Their goal is the most difficult one of all, to translate research from the laboratory and deliver it to the patient. Alongside this, the KIR has a remit to advance public education and teaching. Students and research fellows have always been welcomed into its laboratories and many of these are now themselves leaders in rheumatology research all over the world.

Click here for the Kennedy Institute in Rheumatology web site