Professor Gareth Ackland

Profile

ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0565-5164

Gareth graduated from St John’s College, Oxford University Medical School having completed an intercalated PhD supported by a Wellcome Trust Prize Studentship. He completed clinical training in general medicine, anesthesiology and critical care mostly on the UCL-linked clinical rotation, having also spent 18 months as a consultant in anaesthesia at Stanford University Medical Center, California, USA. Having completed an Academy of Medical Sciences/Health Foundation clinician scientist intermediate research training fellowship award at University College London in 2014, Gareth was appointed Senior Lecturer in Perioperative Medicine at Queen Mary University of London in 2015 and Clinical Professor of Perioperative Medicine in 2020, primarily based at the William Harvey Research Institute.

Current clinical duties are based in perioperative medicine at the Royal London Hospital providing anaesthesia for patients undergoing major elective surgery and emergency procedures following major trauma. He is an active member of several national and international societies for anaesthesia and intensive care medicine. He teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The focus of Gareth’s research centres on improving outcomes for patients following major surgery and critical illness through developing translational models, specifically focussing on autonomic regulation of tissue injury. In addition, he contributes to many large multi-centre studies including VISION-UK and METS. Gareth was awarded the British Oxygen Company Chair in anaesthesia in 2016, to support further translational laboratory studies focussed on the role of autonomic dysfunction fuelling perioperative organ injury.

Research

Group members

Ana Gutierrez del Arroyo, Jenifer Sanchez, Shamir Karmali

Summary

Neurobiology of autonomic control as applied to inflammation, perioperative organ injury and critical illness. 

Publications

• Grossman P, Ackland GL, Allen AM et al. (2026). Why The Polyvagal Theory Is Untenable: An international expert evaluation of the polyvagal theory and commentary upon Porges, S.W. (2025). Polyvagal theory: current status, clinical applications, and future directions. Clin. Neuropsychiatry, 22(3), 169-184.. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.36131/cnfioritieditore20260110

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Oliver NS, Ackland GL, Investigators FTG (2026). Accuracy of continuous glucose monitoring during noncardiac surgery. Response to Br J Anaesth 2026; 136: 416–7. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2025.11.026

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/117255
• Ackland GL, Crane D, Ahuja S et al. (2026). Transauricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Acute Ischaemic Stroke Requiring Mechanical Thrombectomy: Sham-Controlled, Randomised Device Trial. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/s12975-025-01404-7

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/116432
• Ackland GL, Pinto BB (2026). The PRINCE trial of remote ischaemic preconditioning in noncardiac surgery to reduce myocardial injury: sign o’ the times. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2025.11.005

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/117253
• Giannas E, Patel A, Dias P et al. (2025). Perioperative management of renin–angiotensin system inhibitors in patients undergoing elective major noncardiac surgery: a mixed model investigation using systematic review, meta-analysis, multicentre service evaluation, and national survey. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2025.06.026

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/116435
• Janssen H, Dias P, Ahuja S et al. (2025). Accuracy of continuous glucose monitoring during noncardiac surgery: a prospective, blinded observational multicentre cohort study. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2025.05.057

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/117251
• Ackland GL, Hosford PS, del Arroyo AG et al. (2025). Physiological Significance of Endothelial M3 Muscarinic Receptors During Exercise. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1161/circresaha.125.326589

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/108131
• Staibano P, Garg AX, Chan MTV et al. (2025). Myocardial Injury After Major Head and Neck Surgery. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1001/jamaoto.2025.0656

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/106474
• Littlewood K, Gegic J, Hickman M et al. (2025). Metabolic dysfunction over a life course key to healthy ageing inequality. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/s40520-025-03034-3

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/105732
• Janssen H, Dias P, Hiller L et al. (2025). Glucose variability and mode of anaesthesia in major noncardiac surgery (GlucoVITAL): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1016/j.bjao.2025.100419

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/107455

Collaborators

Internal

• Prof. Rupert Pearse
• Dr. Michael O’Dwyer
• Dr. John Prowle
• Dr. Sian Henson
• Prof. Andy Tinker
  

External

• Prof. Alexander Gourine (UCL)
• Prof. Andrey Abramov (UCL)
• Prof Andrew Tobin (Univ. Cambridge)
• Prof. Pierre Lambiase (UCL)