Dr. Desmond Johnston

Biography

Professor Desmond Johnston trained at the University of Edinburgh and was a MRC Training Fellow under Professor Sir George Alberti. His early work investigated metabolic disturbances in liver disease and metabolic aspects of endocrinology. Subsequently, he moved to Newcastle as an Assistant Professor under Reg Hall and obtained a Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellowship to research metabolism in diabetes. He currently heads the Diabetes Endocrinology Metabolism Section in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London. In 1986, he was appointed Chair of Clinical Endocrinology at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, which became part of Imperial College in 1996. He served as Dean (Clinical) at Imperial College London from 2004 to 2012 and was instrumental in several refurbishment projects. From 2005 to 2011, he was Director of the Department of Health-sponsored UK Diabetes Research Network (UKDRN), which conducted large-scale clinical studies. In 2015, he became Head of the Cluster focusing on Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, Stroke, Kidney Disease, and Metabolic Endocrine Disease within the NIHR Clinical Research Network. His major research interests include bio-inspired technology for insulin delivery, diabetes prevention using mobile technology, and understanding early changes in insulin secretion and sensitivity in predisposed individuals. He has published numerous research papers in related areas.

Research Interests