Our Research Center

HPPL at UCL was founded in late 2020 by Dr John Whittle when he returned from working at Duke University in the USA. John had a background in perioperative medicine research and wanted to create a lab that bridged clinical research with clinical practice. We work closely with our clinical colleagues in surgery, anaesthetics and critical care to examine interventions that might improve outcomes after surgery and advance perioperative medicine, care and research.

HPPL is headed by Dr John Whittle, who is an honorary Associate Professor at UCL and a consultant in Anaesthesia, Perioperative & Critical Care Medicine at University College London Hospital.

Co-leads are Dr Nish Arulkumaran and Dr Sam Clark, both critical care consultants at UCLH. Research Fellows include Dr Adam Beebeejaun, Dr Salomeja Aluikaite and Dr Pietro Arina, all medical doctors with perioperative medicine and anaesthetics backgrounds.

Nicholas Tetlow and Amy Dewar, Clinical Exercise Physiologists at UCLH and Honorary Research Fellows at UCL lead our exercise physiology program with support from undergraduate students Daisy Jarvis and Jack Colbert from the University of Hertfordshire.

Laboratory Lead

The Team

Dr. John Whittle

I am a consultant in anaesthesia, critical care and perioperative medicine at University College London Hospitals and an honorary associate professor at University College London.

Meet the team

Nish Arulkumaran

I'm a consultant in Intensive Care medicine at UCLH and an honorary Associate Professor at UCL within the Bloomsbury Institute of Intensive Care. I have an interest in sepsis immunology and antimicrobial resistance. I lead and advise on the laboratory aspects of POM-MP.

Samuel Clark

I'm a consultant in Critical Care at UCLH. I have a research interest in echocardiogram and the assessment of cardiac function and its use on predicting myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery.

Adam Beebeejaun

I'm a Speciality Registrar in Anaesthesia (London). I am currently a PhD candidate with an interest in perioperative metabolic physiology and cardiovascular function.

Nick Tetlow

I am a Clinical Exercise Physiologist at UCLH and a Honorary Research Fellow at UCL. I have a background in exercise physiology and a Masters in Perioperative Medicine from UCL. My research interests include risk prediction using CPET, understanding mechanisms behind the development of morbidity and the use of targeted exercise and nutritional interventions to improve outcomes.

Pietro Arina

I'm a Specialist Doctor in Anaesthesia & Critical Care Medicine. I'm currently pursuing a PhD in Artificial Intelligence applied to Medicine at UCL. I have an interest in translational research in sepsis and septic cardiomyopathy, mechanical ventilation and CPAP in COVID, and now in AI applied to Healthcare.

Salomeja Aliukaite

I am a Doctor in Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine. My Research interests are human physiology, pathophysiology and perioperative outcomes. I am exploring perioperative metabolic changes whilst rising two lovely children.

Amy Dewar

I am a Clinical Exercise Physiologist at UCLH who is also currently undertaking a Masters in Perioperative Medicine at UCL. I manage the day-to-day running of the clinical CPET Service and I am actively engaged in the Prehabilitation Service and its development. I have a research interest in perioperative risk prediction and how autonomic function impact perioperative outcomes.

Krishna Vinnakota

I am a doctor in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care and clinical research associate.

Jack Colbert

I'm an undergraduate Sport and Exercise Science student, working as part of the CPET service at University College London Hospital. I have a research interest in prehabilitation before major surgery.

Daisy Jarvis

I'm an undergraduate Sport and Exercise Science student, working as part of the CPET service at University College London Hospital. I have a keen interest in body composition analysis.

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY AND PERFORMANCE LABORATORY