Dr Kirsty Bannister BSc, MRes, PhD
Associate Professor / Principal Investigator
(She/Her)
I gained a BSc in Pharmacology at University College London before completing of a Master of Research degree and PhD in Epigenetic Mechanisms at Imperial College London. Subsequently, I returned to UCL to begin a post-doctoral position in Professor Anthony Dickenson’s ‘Neuromodulation of Pain’ research group. During my 10 years in the ‘House of Pain’ I identified and characterised novel disease-induced alterations in descending modulatory pathways using multiple models of chronic pain and had two children. Notably I was awarded the 2017 EFIC IBSA publication award. Fulfilling the London University ‘golden triangle’, I joined King’s College London in 2017 on a permanent basis as a Lecturer in Neuropharmacology and Principal Investigator. Now, 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 recently awarded the 2022 Patrick D Wall prize for basic pain research from the International Association for the Study of Pain, and I perform section editor duties for Pain, Pain Reports and British Journal of Pharmacology. I have led multiple symposia at international meetings including the World Congress on Pain (IASP) and European Pain Federation (EFIC) and I am part of the Scientific Programme Committee for IASP 2022.
Past members:
Former research associate
Former research associate
Former PhD student
Former PhD student
Former PhD student
