Dr Dhruv Parekh MBBS (Hons), PhD, MRCP (UK), FFICM

Dhruv Parekh

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Associate Professor in Critical Care and Respiratory Medicine
Director of NIHR/Wellcome Birmingham Clinical Research Facility
Acute Care Research Theme Lead

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 371 7887
Email
d.parekh@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@drdhruvparekh
View my research portal
Address
Department of Inflammation and Ageing
College of Medicine and Health
Centre for Translational and Inflammatory Research
1st Floor, New Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Mindelsohn Way
Birmingham, B15 2WB

Dr Dhruv Parekh is an Associate Professor in Critical Care and Respiratory Medicine at the University of Birmingham, Consultant in Intensive Care and Respiratory at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. He is Theme Lead for Acute Care Research and Director of the Birmingham NIHR/Wellcome Clinical Research Facility. His research interests are developing novel therapies in ARDS, lung fibrosis, perioperative inflammation, sepsis and critical care.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1508-8362

Qualifications

  • FFICM (Fellowship of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine) 2017
  • PhD (Health Sciences), University of Warwick, 2016
  • MRCP (UK), Royal College of Physicians, 2007
  • MBBS (Hons), St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London School of Medicine, 2003
  • BMedSci (Hons), St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London School of Medicine, 2002

Biography

Dhruv graduated from Bart’s and the London Medical School gaining a 1st class honours intercalated bachelor in medical sciences, winning numerous prizes and awards during his undergraduate training. He completed clinical training in London and higher specialist clinical training in Intensive Care Medicine, Respiratory and Internal Medicine in the West Midlands.

Dhruv was awarded a highly competitive MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship and his PhD investigated if vitamin D deficiency is a mechanistic driver of ARDS, which was completed in collaboration with the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick and the West Midlands ARDS network. He was a Clinical Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine at the University and was founding member of the Birmingham Acute Care Research Group. He was awarded a West Midlands NIHR CRN Career Development Fellowship (Research Scholar).

He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham and Consultant in Critical Care and Respiratory Medicine at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. As Programme Director of the Birmingham NIHR/Wellcome Clinical Research Facility and Deputy Theme Lead of the cross-cutting Acute Care Research Collaborative within the Birmingham Health Partnership he oversees a breadth of academic and industry led research.

His own programme of research from discovery science to clinical trials is based principally around improving the care and outcomes of acute and critically ill patients admitted to hospital. Dhruv has a keen interest in improving inequity in and access to research studies and is now with his leadership roles passionate about reducing health disparities by ensuring a cohesive cross-sector approach to research, so that every patient regardless of background, location, diversity, language or disability has equal access to innovation. He has recently been accepted onto the highly competitive Academy of Medical Sciences Future Leaders in Innovation and Research Programme Cohort 3.

He is the co-lead for post-graduate research for the Department and Clinical Academic Training Lead for Acute Care.

Teaching

Teaching Programmes

  • Medicine and Surgery MBChB
    • 1st Year MBChB Respiratory (IRM) Module
    • 3rd/4th Year Respiratory Co-Lead
    • Deputy Lead Respiratory Medicine Masters Programme
  • Biomedical Materials Science BMedSc student supervision
  • Research tasters for students
  • Offers Personal Interest Projects: Respiratory and ICM

Postgraduate supervision

Dhruv is interested in supervising doctoral research students who are interested in research in the field of respiratory, peri-operative medicine and critical care.

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas please contact Dr Dhruv Parekh directly, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

For a full list of available Doctoral Research opportunities, please visit our Doctoral Research programme listings.

Research

Dhruv’s programme of research is based principally around improving the care and outcomes of acute and critically ill patients admitted to hospital. To date this has focused on areas of sepsis and acute lung inflammation, and persistent inflammation post-acute injury, in particular innate immunity, macrophage biology and vitamin D in acute illness. His clinical experience allows him to bridge the gap and crosscut from acute and respiratory medicine, perioperative care, trauma to intensive care medicine with a central translational theme of acute inflammation and its resolution.

He also has an interest in the acute effect of vaping on lung health as well as growing area of work in mechanisms and treatment of lung fibrosis. His on-going research activity spans the breadth of discovery science, translation to phase 2 studies and design and delivery of large clinical and cost effectiveness trials in acute, respiratory, and critical care as well as big data, prognostic scoring and risk modelling: this includes funding from NIHR, MRC and collaboration with industry.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Weblin, J, Parekh, D, Hodson, J, Guo, P, Efstathiou, N & McWilliams, D 2025, 'Efficacy of instilled saline in conjunction with chest physiotherapy on secretion clearance in adults diagnosed with a ventilator acquired pneumonia: a randomised crossover feasibility trial', Physiotherapy, vol. 128, 101791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2025.101791

Alderman, J, Riley, R, Parekh, D, Summers, C, Liu, X & Denniston, A 2025, 'Hidden risks of predictive models in healthcare', BMJ evidence-based medicine. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2025-113730

Grudzinska, F, Faniyi, AA, Belchamber, KBR, Chen, C, Stockley, R, Jasper, A, Parekh, D, Sapey, E, Scott, A & Thickett, DR 2025, 'Hospitalised older adults with community-acquired pneumonia and sepsis have dysregulated neutrophil function but preserved glycolysis', Thorax, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 97-104. https://doi.org/10.1136/thorax-2024-222215

Fennell, É, Taylor, GS, Leahy, CI, Ross, AM, Reynolds, G, Perry, T, Youd, E, Skidmore, J, Ramzi, R, Darwish, R, Hunter, KJ, Willcox, BE, Jermann, P, Arif Jahangir, C, Rahman, A, Gallagher, WM, Nikulina, N, Ben Cheikh, B, Braubach, O, Mayer, AT, Young, LS, Grammatopoulos, D, Faustini, S, Richter, A, Dowell, AC, Venith, T, Thein, OS, Parekh, D, Belchamber, KBR, Thickett, DR, Scott, A, Attanoos, R, Mundo, L, Lazzi, S, Leoncini, L, Leopold, G, Steven, N, Marie, J, Sand, B, Karsdal, MA, Julie Leeming, D, Dojcinov, S, Culhane, A, Murray, PG & Pugh, MR 2025, 'Multi-omic spatial profiling reveals the unique SARS-CoV-2 lung microenvironment and collagen VI as a predictive biomarker in severe COVID-19', The European respiratory journal. https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.01699-2023

STRESS-L Collaborators, Thomas, JL, Mcgee, KC, Hossain, A, Perkins, GD, Gordon, AC, Young, D, McAuley, D, Singer, M, Lall, R, Kramaric, T, Lord, JM, Whitehouse, T & Mur, LAJ 2025, 'The effects of ultra-selective beta1-antagonism on the metabolic and cytokine profile in septic shock patients receiving noradrenaline: a sub-investigation from the STRESS-L Randomised Study', Intensive Care Medicine Experimental, vol. 13, no. 1, 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40635-024-00708-6

Mahida, RY, Yuan, Z, Kolluri, KK, Scott, A, Parekh, D, Hardy, RS, Matthay, MA, Perkins, GD, Janes, SM & Thickett, DR 2024, '11β hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 transgenic mesenchymal stem cells attenuate inflammation in models of sepsis', Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, vol. 12, 1422761. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2024.1422761

PHOSP-COVID Collaborative Group, Elneima, O, McAuley, HJC, Leavy, OC, Chalmers, JD, Horsley, A, Ho, L-P, Marks, M, Poinasamy, K, Raman, B, Shikotra, A, Singapuri, A, Sereno, M, Harris, VC, Houchen-Wolloff, L, Saunders, RM, Greening, NJ, Richardson, M, Quint, JK, Briggs, A, Docherty, AB, Kerr, S, Harrison, EM, Lone, NI, Thorpe, M, Heaney, LG, Lewis, KE, Aul, R, Beirne, P, Bolton, CE, Brown, JS, Choudhury, G, Bakerly, ND, Easom, N, Echevarria, C, Fuld, J, Hart, N, Hurst, JR, Jones, MG, Parekh, D, Pfeffer, P, Rahman, NM, Rowland-Jones, SL, Thompson, AR, Jolley, C, Shah, AM, Wootton, DG, Chalder, T, Davies, MJ, De Soyza, A, Geddes, JR, Greenhalf, W, Heller, S, Howard, LS, Jacob, J, Jenkins, RG, Lord, JM, Man, WD-C, McCann, GP, Neubauer, S, Openshaw, PJ, Porter, JC, Rowland, MJ, Scott, JT, Semple, MG, Singh, SJ, Thomas, DC, Toshner, M, Smith, N, Sheikh, A, Brightling, CE, Wain, LV & Evans, RA 2024, 'Cohort Profile: Post-Hospitalisation COVID-19 (PHOSP-COVID) study', International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 53, no. 1, dyad165. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyad165

Jasper, A, Faniyi, A, Davis, L, Grudzinska, F, Halston, R, Hazeldine, J, Parekh, D, Sapey, E, Thickett, D & Scott, A 2024, 'E-cigarette vapor renders neutrophils dysfunctional due to filamentous actin accumulation', Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology, vol. 153, no. 1, pp. 320-329.e8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2023.08.025

Pittaway, H, Grudzinska, F, Livesey, A, Quarton, S, Adiga, A, Dosanjh, D & Parekh, D 2024, 'Management of Non-Ventilated hospital acquired pneumonia', Clinical Infection in Practice, vol. 21, 100350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinpr.2024.100350

Quarton, S, Livesey, A, Jeff, C, Hatton, C, Scott, A, Parekh, D, Thickett, D, McNally, A & Sapey, E 2024, 'Metagenomics in the Diagnosis of Pneumonia: Protocol for a Systematic Review', JMIR Research Protocols, vol. 13, e57334. https://doi.org/10.2196/57334

Abstract

Thein, OS, Belchamber, K, Hazeldine, J, Faniyi, A, Grudzinska, F, Hughes, M, Jasper, A, Yip, KP, Crowley, L, Lugg, S, Sapey, E, Parekh, D, Thickett, D & Scott, A 2024, 'Dysfunctional neutrophil response in COVID-19 infection vary by subtype', Clinical Medicine, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 69-70. https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmed.23-6-s69

Letter

Nicolson, P, Montague, S, Buka, R, Calvert, A, Sheppard, J-A, Zhang, Y, Wang, JJ, Sharman, J, Hassan, E, Harrison, J, Lawrence, E, El-Dalil, P, Parekh, D, Osman, H, Gordon, T, Nazy, I, Warkentin, T & Lester, W 2025, 'Anti-PF4 mediated thrombocytopenia and thrombosis associated with acute cytomegalovirus infection displays both HIT-like and VITT-like characteristics', British Journal of Haematology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.20092

Rose, L, Camporota, L, Contreras, A, Couper, K, Hadfield, D, Alleyne, S, Barabas, J, Boex, SM, Connolly, BA, Dark, P, Davies, C, Dawson, A, De Soyza, A, Felton, TW, Guck, J, Hale, D, Hill, MC, Hopkins, PA, Hossain, A, Ji, C, Jin, H, Kandiyali, R, Khan, KA, Kitchen, GB, Krovi, DN, Lall, R, Law, E, Lea, K, Madan, JJ, McGrath, BA, Michael, A, Mills, GH, Mildner, R, Noufaily, A, Parekh, D, Parvin, C, Patel, V, Perkins, G, Rafferty, GF, Shankar-Hari, M, Shyamsunder, M, Steiner, M, Tassie, E, Thirlwall, J, Thompson, M, Watkins, B, Williams, RL, Yeung, J, Zanganeh, M, Starr, K & McAuley, D 2025, 'The COnfederation of REspiratory Critical Care Trials (CoReCCT): a UK research confederation', British Journal of Anaesthesia, vol. 134, no. 2, pp. 566-568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bja.2024.10.033

Review article

Jeff, C, Quarton, S, Hatton, C, Parekh, D, Thickett, D, McNally, A & Sapey, E 2025, 'Metagenomics in the diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infections: A systematic review and meta-analysis', Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease, vol. 113, no. 3, 116995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2025.116995

Quarton, S, Livesey, A, Pittaway, H, Adiga, A, Grudzinska, F, McNally, A, Dosanjh, D, Sapey, E & Parekh, D 2024, 'Clinical challenge of diagnosing non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia and identifying causative pathogens: a narrative review', The Journal of Hospital Infection, vol. 149, pp. 189-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2024.02.029

View all publications in research portal