Three members of staff from King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours List.
Professor Stephanie Amiel, Professor Safa Al-Sarraj, and Professor Keyoumars Ashkan from the hospital in Denmark Hill have all received awards from the King.
Recipients in the New Year Honours List are awarded for outstanding contributions to British society.
Professor Amiel, Honorary Consultant in Diabetes at King’s, received a Damehood for services to people living with diabetes.
She said: “This honour has come as a complete surprise to me – of course I am delighted. So much of what I have been able to achieve has been in collaboration with amazing colleagues and this award honours them too.
“To receive the honour for services to people with diabetes is heartwarming. They are the true heroes in the diabetes story and if I have been able to make things a little better for some of them, that is an honour indeed.”
Professor Amiel, Honorary Consultant in Diabetes at King’s, received a Damehood (Picture: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
Initially joining the diabetes team as a consultant in 1995, Professor Amiel has introduced a number of new programmes for people with diabetes.
She introduced islet transplantation to the NHS to treat those with type 1 diabetes and severe hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar episodes), making King’s the first centre in the UK to successfully transplant a patient in the national programme.
Professor Amiel’s work on the impact of ethnicity has also illuminated aspects of diabetes care in minority groups, with a focus on African and Caribbean communities in London.
She has chaired the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) type 1 diabetes guideline development group, shaping the current delivery of diabetes care in the 21st century.
Meanwhile, Professor Safa Al-Sarraj, Consultant Neuropathologist, has been awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to neuropathology.
Professor Al-Sarraj joined King’s in 1995, and has been head of Clinical Neuropathology and director of the Brain Bank since 2002.
He is renowned for his research on neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Motor Neuron Disease and frontotemporal dementia. His research has helped to explain the underlying mechanisms of these conditions.
Professor Safa Al-Sarraj, Consultant Neuropathologist, has been awarded an OBE (Picture: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
One of his most notable areas of research is in traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Professor Al-Sarraj has investigated the long-term effects of head trauma on the brain. His work in this area has been crucial in linking TBI with subsequent neurodegenerative conditions, providing critical insights that have informed both medical understanding and public health policies, particularly in sports and the military.
He said: “The news of an OBE came completely out of the blue.
“I am both surprised and delighted to receive this honour, which I feel is not only for me but for everyone in the Department of Clinical Neuropathology and brain bank at King’s College Hospital and King’s Neuroscience centre.”
Finally, Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, Consultant Neurosurgeon, has been made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to neurosurgery.
Professor Ashkan was appointed as a consultant neurosurgeon at King’s in 2006 and is now lead for Functional and Oncological Neurosurgery.
His work on brain cancer vaccines received the top presentation award by the British Neuro-Oncology Society in 2022 and promises to impact the care of patients with brain tumours worldwide.
Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, Consultant Neurosurgeon, has been made an MBE (Picture: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
In 2023, he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree, the highest academic degree in the UK, for his innovative work on deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease.
In 2020, his innovative approach to removing a brain tumour whilst his patient played the violin attracted a global audience and put neurosurgery at the forefront of the public mind.
In 2018, he was voted Clinician of the Year nominated by the Brain Tumour Charity and in 2021 he was the runner-up for the UK Ground-Breaking Pioneer Award.
Despite his busy clinical commitments, Professor Ashkan has led dozens of ground-breaking research studies culminating in almost 400 peer reviewed publications and multiple prizes and awards.
Professor Ashkan said: “In life, I have only ever done things because I felt they needed to be done.
“It is, however, very comforting and joyful to be acknowledged. To receive such an Honour is truly beyond my expectations and fills me with immense pride and gratitude.”
Pictured top: King’s College hospital (Picture: Google Street View)