At King’s we are committed to using our expertise and resources in support of the international response to COVID-19 during one of the most challenging times we have collectively faced.

Our research teams, across a number of disciplines, are currently working to tackle the impacts of the outbreak in four keys areas:

• Researching life-saving treatments for COVID-19
• Support for our incredible NHS staff and their mental health
• A global response to help developing countries fight the outbreak
• Help for students facing financial hardship as a result of the epidemic

King's fosters a unique culture of encouragement, support and collaboration, forming King’s Health Partners with three successful NHS Foundation Trusts: Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley. Bringing together academics and clinicians in this way ensures we can effectively address the major health crisis our society is currently facing and puts us in a unique position to be a part of the global response to the virus, but we need your support.

London is now at the epicentre of the UK epidemic, with the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark at the heart. We work across multiple hospitals in the centre of London, and in densely populated and multicultural communities. This, coupled with our strengths in areas such as virology, immunology, biomedical engineering and mental health, has placed us in a strong position to find answers and solutions to the issues we are currently facing, to impact both communities within the UK and globally.

We all have a key role to play during this highly unusual and uncertain time. Our staff and students are currently providing crucial support to the NHS at the most critical point in its history. This includes members of the King’s community supporting patient care, clinical academics who have taken on temporary full-time NHS roles and our research and laboratory staff assisting with diagnosis testing and ventilator manufacture in the fight against COVID-19. Together, we need to support them to ensure their own physical and mental health is not compromised.

We are turning to you during this special emergency appeal. Please donate now to help King’s provide the essential support that is required. You will be providing support in vital research and you will be directly impacting our fight against this disease.

Thank you so much for your generosity.