Sir Peter John Barnes is a distinguished respiratory scientist and clinician who currently serves as Senior Research Investigator and Professor of Thoracic Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. Born in Birmingham in 1946, he received his early education at Leamington College before earning a first-class honors degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge. He completed his medical training at the University of Oxford, where he graduated with BM, BCh in 1972, establishing the foundation for his illustrious career in respiratory medicine. For three decades from 1987 to 2017, he led the Respiratory Medicine department at Imperial College, transforming it into a globally recognized center for pulmonary research and clinical excellence.
Professor Barnes has made seminal contributions to understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with his research directly informing clinical practice worldwide. His extraordinary scholarly output includes over 1,500 peer-reviewed publications, making him one of the most highly cited researchers globally with an h-index of 220 and more than 150,000 citations. He pioneered translational research approaches that have led to novel therapeutic interventions, co-founding the Imperial spin-out company RespiVert, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson and developed innovative inhaled treatments for severe respiratory conditions. His work has fundamentally reshaped modern understanding of airway inflammation and has directly influenced global treatment guidelines for respiratory diseases.
Beyond his research achievements, Sir Peter has provided extensive leadership to the international respiratory community through his service on the Scientific Committee of the WHO NIH global guidelines for asthma and COPD. He serves on the editorial boards of over 30 prestigious journals and holds honorary MD degrees from five European universities, reflecting his global impact on respiratory medicine. In recognition of his exceptional contributions, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007, becoming the first respiratory researcher honored in this way for over 150 years, and was knighted in the 2023 Kings Birthday Honours for services to respiratory science. His continued research focuses on advancing precision medicine approaches for respiratory diseases, ensuring his legacy of innovation continues to drive progress in improving outcomes for millions of patients worldwide.
