Professor Paul Dark has been reappointed as a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) senior investigator – recognising him as one of the most prominent researchers funded by the NIHR and an outstanding leader of patient and people-based research.
He is one of just 16 reappointed senior investigators, with 43 new appointments also announced. Collectively, senior investigators help guide research capacity development and enhance the career paths of NIHR researchers.
Professor Dark is a critical care consultant at Salford Royal Hospital, part of Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, a professor of critical care medicine at The University of Manchester (UoM) and a key researcher in the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre’s respiratory theme.
He has a particular interest in sepsis, novel diagnostics, the development of integrated pathways of care and improving global humanitarian responses. Earlier this year, Prof Dark co-authored a study which showed a simple blood test can tell doctors when it is safe to stop antibiotics in patients recovering from sepsis.
Prof Dark was NIHR Clinical Research Network’s national deputy medical director (2022-24) and as a former NIHR national specialty lead for critical care (2015-22), he played a key role in the research response to the covid-19 pandemic, advising the Department of Health and Social Care on urgent public health research into vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests.
Prof Dark is also vice dean for health and care partnerships at UoM, honorary professor at The University of Warwick Medical School Clinical Trials Unit and visiting professor at the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at King’s College London.
Prof Dark said: “I am delighted to be appointed as a NIHR Senior Investigator for a second term. This national award will allow me continue to provide a systems voice from Greater Manchester to help influence national research policy in applied health, social care, and public health, and to act as an international ambassador for the National Institute of Health and Care Research.”