Prof Richard Pollok
Clinical interests
Prof Pollok is Consutant Physician and Professor of Practice in Gastroenterology & Gastrointestinal Infection. His clinical interests include inflammatory bowel disease (including young people and adolescents in transition from the paediatric service), gastrointestinal infection and irritable bowel syndrome and GI-associated lymphoedema.
Professional profile
Prof Pollok qualified at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School in 1989. He trained in Gastroenterology in north east London and was formerly a Wellcome Trust clinical research fellow at St Bart's, where he was awarded his PhD for work in the field of gastrointestinal immunology. He is a Reader at St George's, University of London and consultant physician at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is also an honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College having been appointed 2002.
His research interests are primarily focused on IBD and GI infection with over 100 peer reviewed publications and income from grants and trials. He has supervised 6 MD research fellows and published more than 100 original articles in high impact international journals such as the Lancet, JAMA and Gastroenterology. He has been PI on more than 20 clinical studies both observational and interventional NIHR funded and commercial studies. He has led several successful local and national collaborations with NHS and academic partners including Imperial College London, University College London and Institute of Psychiatry and has international links with Vellore Medical College, India. The impact of his work is growing as evidenced by more than2000 citations of my work in the literature and its translation into clinical guidelines. Alongside his research activity, he is a full time NHS clinician, with activities including out-patient and inpatient consultation, endoscopy, service development and education at SGUFT and Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton. He was Clinical Director of Specialist Medicine at SGUHFT between 2008 and 2011 including a portfolio for education and research. He has been South London Clinical Research Network (CRN) Gastroenterology Lead and national Gastroenterology CRN committee member since 2011 and oversees a portfolio of commercial and NIHR funded clinical trials. In this role he has driven recruitment to clinical studies in gastroenterology, which has grown rapidly, South London LCRN was there largest recruiter per capita in England in 2018. He is a member of the British Society of Gastroenterology IBD section including a role for national guideline development in IBD and quality improvement with a liaison with the Royal College of General Practioners. He is a regularly invited speaker nationally and internationally and serves and is a regular journal reviewer.
- Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow
- British Society of Gastroenterology Research Prize
- Fellow, Royal College of Physicians
- Clinical Research Network, South London Gastroenterology Lead
- British Society of Gastroenterology, member of IBD committee