Anthony Gordon (clinical scientist)

Anthony Christopher Gordon MBE FRCA FMedSci
Nationality	British
Alma mater	St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, University of London
Scientific career
Fields	Critical Care Sepsis
Institutions	Imperial College London
Thesis	Genetic polymorphisms of the innate immune system: influence on susceptibility and outcome in severe sepsis and septic shock
Doctoral advisor	Charles Hinds
Website	www.imperial.ac.uk/people/anthony.gordon

Anthony Gordon MBE FRCA FMedSci is a British clinician scientist and the Chair of Anaesthesia & Critical Care at Imperial College London and works as an intensive care consultant at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. ^[1]

Early life and education

Educated at Kings College School, Wimbledon, ^[2] he studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, University of London, and was awarded a BSc in Anatomy with Basic Medical Sciences in 1990 and MBBS in 1993. He undertook his doctoral studies with Charles Hinds and was awarded an MD for his thesis exploring genetic polymorphisms in sepsis ^[3]

Career and research

He undertook his postgraduate medical training in London with an additional year at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia ^[4] He was awarded the Intensive Care Society visiting fellowship in 2005 and spent two years in Vancouver at St Paul's Hospital, University of British Columbia ^[5] and also worked as the director of medical development of a university spin-out company (Sirius Genomics Inc) developing pharmacogenetic tests for use in the ICU. ^[6]

As an NIHR Research Professor (2016-2022) ^[7] he leads a multi-disciplinary team investigating the use of ‘omic techniques ^[8] and artificial intelligence (AI) ^[9] to improve outcomes in sepsis, with a particular focus on clinical trials and translational studies. He was the Chief Investigator of the VANISH clinical trial evaluating early vasopressin use (in combination with hydrocortisone) ^[10] and the LeoPARDS trial evaluating levosimendan, ^[11] both in septic shock.

He is the UK Chief Investigator for the REMAP-CAP clinical trial, ^[12] which was the first trial to demonstrate that the immune modulating drugs, tocilizumab and sarilumab, saved lives from severe COVID-19. ^[13] The Prime Minister announced this result from 10 Downing Street ^[14] and Gordon is the first author of the published paper. ^[15] This adaptive platform trial has reported on more than a dozen other interventions for severe COVID-19, including hydrocortisone, convalescent plasma, anti-virals, anti-platelet drugs, ^[16] therapeutic heparin, ^{[17] [18]} ACE inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs), ^[19] high-dose vitamin C ^[20] and simvastatin. ^[21] The trial has now been selected by the NIHR as the national platform trial to find the most effective treatments for people hospitalised with severe flu. ^[22]

In March 2024 he was appointed as Programme Director of the National Research Collaboration Programme (NRCP). ^[23] The NRCP is an NIHR / NHS England partnership that commissions high quality evidence for treatments where research can present particular challenges and might otherwise not progress. In June 2025 he was appointed as Programme Director of the NIHR's Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme. ^[24]

Honours

His contributions to clinical science have been recognised in appointment as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2022), ^[25] an Honorary Member of the Intensive Care Society ^[26] and NIHR Senior Investigator (2023). ^[27] He was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2024 Birthday Honours for services to Critical Care Medicine. ^[28]

References

1. "Personal Imperial Webpage" . Retrieved 28 December 2023.
2. "Old Kings Club newsletter" (PDF). Retrieved 28 December 2023.
3. Gordon, Anthony. Genetic polymorphisms of the innate immune system : influence on susceptibility and outcome in severe sepsis and septic shock. Queen Mary, University of London.
4. "ICHT Consultant Directory" . Retrieved 28 December 2023.
5. "UBC Faculty and Fellows" . Retrieved 28 December 2023.
6. Annane, Djillali; Mira, Jean Paul; Ware, Lorraine B; Gordon, Anthony C; Sevransky, Jonathan; Stüber, Frank; Heagerty, Patrick J; Wellman, Hugh F; Neira, Mauricio; Mancini, Alexandra DJ; Russell, James A (December 2012). "Design, conduct, and analysis of a multicenter, pharmacogenomic, biomarker study in matched patients with severe sepsis treated with or without drotrecogin Alfa (activated)". Annals of Intensive Care. 2 (1): 15. doi: 10.1186/2110-5820-2-15 . PMC   3403963 . PMID   22694772.
7. "Current NIHR Research Professors". www.nihr.ac.uk.
8. Antcliffe, David B.; Burnham, Katie L.; Al-Beidh, Farah; Santhakumaran, Shalini; Brett, Stephen J.; Hinds, Charles J.; Ashby, Deborah; Knight, Julian C.; Gordon, Anthony C. (15 April 2019). "Transcriptomic Signatures in Sepsis and a Differential Response to Steroids. From the VANISH Randomized Trial". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 199 (8): 980–986. doi:10.1164/rccm.201807-1419OC. PMC   6467319 . PMID   30365341.
9. Komorowski, Matthieu; Celi, Leo A.; Badawi, Omar; Gordon, Anthony C.; Faisal, A. Aldo (November 2018). "The Artificial Intelligence Clinician learns optimal treatment strategies for sepsis in intensive care". Nature Medicine. 24 (11): 1716–1720. doi:10.1038/s41591-018-0213-5. hdl: 10044/1/61246 . PMID   30349085. S2CID   53025350.
10. Gordon, Anthony C.; Mason, Alexina J.; Thirunavukkarasu, Neeraja; Perkins, Gavin D.; Cecconi, Maurizio; Cepkova, Magda; Pogson, David G.; Aya, Hollmann D.; Anjum, Aisha; Frazier, Gregory J.; Santhakumaran, Shalini; Ashby, Deborah; Brett, Stephen J.; for the VANISH Investigators (2016-08-02). "Effect of Early Vasopressin vs Norepinephrine on Kidney Failure in Patients With Septic Shock: The VANISH Randomized Clinical Trial". JAMA. 316 (5): 509. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.10485. hdl: 10044/1/38836 . ISSN   0098-7484.
11. Gordon, Anthony C.; Perkins, Gavin D.; Singer, Mervyn; McAuley, Daniel F.; Orme, Robert M.L.; Santhakumaran, Shalini; Mason, Alexina J.; Cross, Mary; Al-Beidh, Farah; Best-Lane, Janis; Brealey, David; Nutt, Christopher L.; McNamee, James J.; Reschreiter, Henrik; Breen, Andrew (2016-10-27). "Levosimendan for the Prevention of Acute Organ Dysfunction in Sepsis". New England Journal of Medicine. 375 (17): 1638–1648. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1609409. ISSN   0028-4793. PMID   27705084.
12. "REMAP-CAP Trial". REMAP-CAP Trial.
13. "Arthritis drug effective in treating sickest COVID-19 patients | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. 19 November 2020.
14. "Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 7 January 2021". GOV.UK. 7 January 2021.
15. REMAP-CAP Investigators; et al. (22 April 2021). "Interleukin-6 Receptor Antagonists in Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19". New England Journal of Medicine. 384 (16): 1491–1502. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2100433. hdl: 10044/1/86283 . PMC   7953461 . PMID   33631065. S2CID   230798728.
16. Florescu, Simin; et al. (2023). "Long-term (180-Day) Outcomes in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 in the REMAP-CAP Randomized Clinical Trial". JAMA. 329 (1): 39–51. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.23257. PMC   9857594 . PMID   36525245.
17. REMAP-CAP Investigators; et al. (26 August 2021). "Therapeutic Anticoagulation with Heparin in Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19". New England Journal of Medicine. 385 (9): 777–789. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2103417. PMC   8362592 . PMID   34351722.
18. ATTACC Investigators; et al. (26 August 2021). "Therapeutic Anticoagulation with Heparin in Noncritically Ill Patients with Covid-19". New England Journal of Medicine. 385 (9): 790–802. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2105911. hdl: 10044/1/90873 . PMC   8362594 . PMID   34351721. S2CID   236927358.
19. Writing Committee for the REMAP-CAP Investigators; et al. (2023). "Effect of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitor and Angiotensin Receptor Blocker Initiation on Organ Support-Free Days in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19: A Randomized Clinical Trial". JAMA. 329 (14): 1183–1196. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.4480 . PMC   10326520 . PMID   37039790.
20. "Intravenous vitamin C for patients hospitalized with COVID-19: two harmonized randomized clinical trials". JAMA. 330 (18): 1745–1759. 2023. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.21407 . PMC   10600726 . PMID   37877585.
21. REMAP-CAP Investigators; et al. (21 December 2023). "Simvastatin in Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19". New England Journal of Medicine. 389 (25): 2341–2354. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2309995. PMC   10755839 . PMID   37888913. S2CID   264501247.
22. "New study will help rapidly find flu treatments this winter". www.nihr.ac.uk.
23. "New Director for National Research Collaboration Programme announced". www.nihr.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
24. "New Directors appointed for 5 NIHR programmes". 11 February 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
25. "BRC researchers awarded AMS Fellowships – NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre".
26. "ICS Members meeting 2023". X.com.
27. "NIHR appoints new Senior Investigators, including seven Imperial BRC researchers – NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre" . Retrieved 28 December 2023.
28. "Page B1 | Supplement 64423, 15 June 2024 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-07-03.