People | Bannister Lab

Dr Kirsty Bannister BSc, MRes, PhD

Associate Professor / Principal Investigator

kirsty.bannister03@imperial.ac.uk

(She/Her)

I gained a BSc in Pharmacology at University College London (First Class Hons) before completing Master of Research and PhD degrees at Imperial College London. Subsequently, I returned to UCL as a post-doctoral researcher in Professor Anthony Dickenson’s Neuromodulation of Pain research group. Over 10 years I identified and characterised novel disease-induced alterations in descending modulatory pathways using multiple models of chronic pain and had two children. In 2017 I was awarded the EFIC IBSA publication prize and, fulfilling the London University ‘golden triangle’, I joined King’s College London as an Assistant Professor, Neuropharmacology. In 2025 I returned to Imperial College London as an Associate Professor, Neuroscience. My research team bridges the gap between bench and bedside pain research as we conduct exploratory experiments that seek to molecularly, anatomically and/or functionally define descending control pathways in animals and humans. I was awarded the 2022 Patrick D Wall prize for basic pain research from the International Association for the Study of Pain, and the 2023 Patrick D Wall award from the British Pain Society. I perform Editorial duties for Pain, Pain Reports, British Journal of Pharmacology and European Journal of Pain. I was an elected member of the Scientific Programme Committee (SPC) for IASP 2022 and 2024 World Pain Congresses and I will Chair the SPC for the 2026 World Pain Congress. I am an elected member of the SPC for the British Pain Society (2024-2026). I am a member of the EFIC Working Group for Translational Pain Research and Pain Research Strategy. In addition to directing a research strategy, I teach a range of Pharmacology and Neuroscience topics to University students.

Dr Ryan Patel BA, PhD

Research Associate

(He/Him)

I read Natural Sciences at King’s College Cambridge before going on to complete a PhD under the supervision of Prof Tony Dickenson at UCL. In 2022 I was awarded the Prof Anthony Mellows Medal and Fellowship. I have authored 36 research articles/reviews/book chapters in the fields of neurophysiology, neuropharmacology and pain modulation. My current work combines optogenetic/chemogenetic, electrophysiological and behavioural approaches to identify top-down circuits that mediate descending control of pain.

Joseph Taylor BSc, MRes

PhD Student

(He/Him)

I am investigating the interaction between Secondary Hyperalgesia and Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) in Humans. The goal is to better elucidate the extent to which CPM interacts with known spinal pain processing mechanisms. I have a background in Psychology and Visual Psychophysics, and am primarily interested in the subconscious processing that goes on between the body detecting a sensory signal and our conscious perception of what we are seeing, hearing, or in this case feeling.

Zara Rehman BSc, MSc

PhD Student

(She/Her)

I completed my BSc in Psychology, Counselling, and Therapies at the University of Bedfordshire, followed by an MSc in Health Psychology at King's College London (KCL). As a Research Assistant at KCL, I contributed to projects focusing on parental substance use and chronic kidney disease. Currently, I'm pursuing a PhD funded by the NIHR, where I'm focusing on innovating a biopsychosocial assessment of chronic pain in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. I'm fortunate to be under the supervision of Dr. Kirsty Bannister, Dr. Whitney Scott, and Professor Ray Chaudhuri.

Elliott Slough BSc, MSc

PhD student

(He/Him)

I am currently undertaking a PhD investigating the physiological mechanisms of pain processing, aiming to deepen understanding of pain processing in health and disease. My work combines computational models of pain pathways with electrophysiological techniques to better elucidate the neurobiology of pain. I am fortunate to be supervised by Dr Kirsty Bannister, Dr Ryan Patel and Dr Marcus Ghosh. Before starting my PhD, I completed a BSc in Biomedical Science and an MSc in Trauma Science.