Professor Phillip Bennett has accepted the role of Acting Head of the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction in the Faculty of Medicine, with effect from 1 October 2024. Professor Bennett will continue in this role until a new postholder is identified and appointed. This is to replace our current Head of the Department, Professor Mark Thursz who has been appointed as Director of the Academic Health Science Centre.
Professor Bennett has been Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology since 1995, after joining RPMS (Royal Postgraduate Medical School) in 1988 as a Senior Clinical Research Fellow, which later became Imperial. He was formerly the Director of the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology. He also directs (together with David MacIntyre and Lynne Sykes) the March of Dimes European Preterm Birth Research Centre at Imperial and (together with Tom Bourne) the Tommy’s National Miscarriage Research Centre at Imperial.
Professor Bennett’s principal research interests are the microbiology, biochemistry and endocrinology of pregnancy, human term and preterm labour, and the stratification, prediction and prevention of miscarriage and preterm birth.
Professor Bennett was elected Fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences in 2017; Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London, UK, in 2000; Honorary Fellow Maltese College Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2006; Honorary Fellow American Gynecologic and Obstetrical Society in 2018.