Join us in transforming the future of healthcare through King’s CICM.
At King’s Centre for Integrative Chinese Medicine (King’s CICM), we are bringing together the finest minds and pioneering research to tackle some of today’s most pressing health challenges — kidney disease, heart disease, cancer and more. By uniting the best of Eastern and Western medical traditions, we’re creating new pathways to healing and hope.
Your support will not only nurture the next generation of exceptional talent — you will help deliver life-changing treatments and shape a more holistic, effective approach to care for patients around the world.
To begin, we kindly invite you to review our Overall Fundraising Plan, which outlines the full details of our fundraising programme.
The following content is also for your kind perusal:
Our Mission
King’s CICM: Integrating Wisdom, Catalysing Innovation
As the World Health Organization (WHO) prepares to launch its new Traditional Medicine Strategy (2025-2034) in May 2025, King’s College London has laid the groundwork for the next generation of health science, training and care. The King’s CICM initiative explores traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as a case study for integrating different medical traditions with cutting-edge science and technology. The initiative pioneers an Integrative Chinese Medicine (ICM) approach to innovation, harnessing 3,000 years of heritage from TCM alongside cutting-edge innovations—from AI diagnostics to precision medicine and multi-omics technologies—to create a dual-engine platform for evidence-based integrative care and groundbreaking research, teaching and innovation.
- Tackling Healthcare Challenges: Innovate in disease prevention, chronic condition management and mental health to enhance the NHS’s operational resilience and efficiency.
- Setting Global Benchmarks: Establish scientific frameworks for integrative medicine through the synergy of ethnopharmacology, modern medical science and cutting-edge technologies.
- Empowering Change-Makers: Nurturing pioneers of integrative medicine in research, education and care to advance patient-centred, evidence-based and cost-efficient solutions
Our Unique Strengths
Despite chronic underfunding of traditional and integrative medicine research in the UK, King’s CICM harnesses its world-leading ecosystem to drive innovation. This ecosystem integrates:
- World-leading in-house expertise in research, education and training in the vast fields of Artificial Intelligence, Biomedical Science, Dentistry, Digital Health, Multi-Omics, Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing and Clinical Science;
- Unrivalled holistic clinical expertise and resources offered by our NHS hospitals (King’s College Hospital, Maudsley Hospital, Guy’s Hospital and St. Thomas’ Hospital);
- Solid foundation for further development of ICM: Strong track record in research of Herbal Safety, Efficacy, Quality Control and Multi-Omics-based investigation of Mechanisms of Action;
- Well-established global collaboration network, including national and international expertise in acupuncture, TCM, Chinese materia medica, herbal quality control, pharmacology and toxicology, as well as complementary disciplines.
By uniting these strengths, we are pioneering a groundbreaking “Ancient Wisdom × Modern Innovation” model for ICM. As boundary-breaking reformers, we redefine approaches to biomedical education, research and patient care.
World’s Questions | King’s Answers on ICM
Inspired by the award-winning World’s Questions | King’s Answers campaign, we are keen to listen to a wide spectrum of ideas and opinions, ranging from patients, caregivers, general public and media, to the TCM community, KHP staff, King’s CICM Honorary Advisors, collaborators and other stakeholders to develop an ICM Version of World’s Questions | King’s Answers, aiming to bring down barriers, facilitate dialogue, bridge collaboration and enable ICM in research, innovation, education and training, as well as service and care.
Purposes & Research Focus
The King’s CICM will focus on opportunities to address kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other ageing-related disorders and will serve as the Integrative Medicine Theme of Ageing Research at King’s. TCM-inspired biomedical innovation, drug development and non-drug therapies are the main deliverables of the initiative.
In Stage 1, we plan to raise a £0.5m King’s CICM Empowerment Fund. We will build the platform and network needed for the growth of the Centre, including faculty and research team development, websites, forums, as well as education and training endeavours.
In Stage 2, we plan to raise a £11m King’s CICM Breakthrough Fund, which will enable further growth of the Centre by recruiting global talents, facilitating collaboration and resource integration. This will expand the remit of CICM to cover more major areas of unmet needs and will deliver broader and deeper impacts.
Proposed use of the Empowerment Fund and the Breakthrough Fund: Page 1 of Overall Fundraising Plan
King’s CICM supports innovation in medical education, research and care by integrating different medical philosophies, expertise and resources. Applying interdisciplinary, cutting-edge science and technology, King’s CICM projects will break down barriers, facilitate dialogue and collaboration, and promote good practices. In particular, King’s CICM projects emphasise TCM-inspired biomedical innovation, clinical efficacy and safety studies, efficacy- and safety-based mechanisms, and development of innovative ICM products.
A list of Research Priorities can be found on page 2 of the Overall Fundraising Plan
Fundraising Plan and Special Commemorative Awards:
1. To establish a pool of donations aligned with donor-selected projects.
- These funds include the King’s CICM Fund, which is dedicated to all pioneers who had contributed to TCM and integrative Chinese medicine in the UK and internationally.
- The fund will drive the core research, education, training and clinical innovation programmes of King’s CICM.
- Please donate by scanning the QR code. Alternatively you can click and share this link: https://www.justgiving.com/page/kings-cicm-fund
2. To establish four Commemorative Academic Awards
- The Peter Hylands Award will support the application of cutting-edge technologies in ICM research & development
- The Peter Houghton Award will support pharmaceutical discovery from plants and other natural resources
- The Boying Ma Award will support Medical History and Medical Humanities research
- The Man Fong Mei Award will support ICM research with novel interdisciplinary features
The Peter Hylands Award
Click https://www.justgiving.com/page/peter-hylands-award?utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL or the above QR code for the JustGiving Page for the Peter Hylands Award. Thank you!
Hylands PJ. Treasurer’s Travels. The July/August 2014 Newsletter of The GP-TCM Research Association.
Tribute to Prof. Peter Hylands, Formerly Head of Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King’s College London; Co-Founder of the King’s CICM initiative and Founding Treasurer, Board and Executive Council Member of the GP-TCM Research Association:
Memorable Moments with Professor Peter Hylands (The Newsletter of the GP-TCM Research Association, The June 2019 Special Edition. In memoriam Peter John Hylands)
Professor Peter Hylands Was Honoured by His Colleagues and Friends at King’s and Worldwide
https://www.gp-tcm.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Jun-2019-GP-TCM-RA-NL.pdf
https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/tribute-peter-hylands
Mrs Hylands’ comments can be found on page 3 of the Overall Fundraising Plan
The Peter Houghton Award
Click Peter Houghton Award or the above QR code for the JustGiving Page for the Peter Houghton Award. Thank you!
Tribute to Prof. Peter Houghton, Professor of Pharmacognosy, King’s College London; an international leader in medicinal plant and ethnopharmacology research:
Tributes to Prof. Peter Houghton:
– Professors Amala Soumyanath and Clara Lau, on behalf of Prof. Peter Houghton’s former colleagues and students at King’s College London
– Michael Heinrich. Pharmaceutical Biology 2024;62:527–528: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13880209.2024.2365210
– The Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences: https://apsgb.co.uk/people-news/in-memoriam-professor-peter-houghton-london-uk/
– Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA): https://ga-online.org/news/in-memoriam-prof-peter-houghton-london/
Significance of the Awards: These two awards will uphold the pioneering spirit of the two esteemed professors by advancing the development of integrative Chinese medicine in the following ways:
- Supporting the growth of early-career researchers;
- Attracting top-tier talent to join King’s CICM.
The Peter Hylands Award will focus on fostering technological innovation and application, while the Peter Houghton Award will be dedicated to natural medicine research, reflecting each professor’s respective research interests. The establishment of these awards highlights the shared commitment of both professors to interdisciplinary collaboration, talent development, and the transformative potential of integrative medicine. By nurturing the next generation of leading scholars, we ensure the continuation of their academic vision: bridging diverse medical traditions and advancing global health.
The Boying Ma Award
Tribute to Prof Boying Ma, Honorary Chairman and Founding President of Federation of TCM Practitioners (UK) and the author of A History of Medicine in Chinese Culture (in 2 volumes, 2019), who contributed greatly to the TCM History part of Dr Joseph Needham’s book series Science and Civilisation in China: https://ftcmp.co.uk/en/deep-mourning-for-the-famous-medical-historian-professor-ma-boying/
Mrs Ma’ comments can be found on page 4 of the Overall Fundraising Plan
The Man Fong Mei Award
Tribute to Prof. Man Fong Mei, a Physics graduate of King’s College London, who pioneered the development of the TCM industry in the UK, by founding AcuMedic and the Chinese Medical Institute and Register (CMIR) UK, one of the earliest, largest and most influential TCM hospitals, training centres and hubs for promoting dialogues and integration of different medical traditions: https://shop.acumedic.com/articles/post/the-inspirational-life-of-profesor-man-fong-mei/
Comments by Prof. Mei’s family can be found on page 5 of the Overall Fundraising Plan
Purpose of the Awards: These two special commemorative awards aim to uphold the pioneering spirit of the two distinguished professors by supporting groundbreaking work in medical history, medical humanities and interdisciplinary research. Designed to break down barriers, foster dialogue and enhance cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary exchange, the awards will help cultivate both the intellectual foundation and future talents essential for advancing integrative Chinese medicine.
Funding Tiers & Impact
Under £60,000: Supports the research costs of pre-doctoral, doctoral, and postdoctoral projects, including:
- £1,000–£10,000:
- King’s CICM forums (disseminating evidence on TCM efficacy and safety).
- Pre-doctoral internships (A-level to MSc/MRes students).
- Contributions to the Peter Hylands, Peter Houghton, Boying Ma, or Man Fong Mei Awards.
- £10,000–£60,000:
- £10,000–40,000: 1–4 person-years of postdoctoral research (Research Costs Only).
- £40,000–50,000: 4-year PhD scholarship (Research Costs Only).
- £50,000–60,000: 5–6 person-years of postdoctoral research or two 4-year PhD scholarships (Research Costs Only).
- Opportunity to name scholarships after donors.
Over £60,000: Fuels large-scale research and sustainable growth:
- £65,000: 50% of a 4-year PhD studentship (UK students).
- £130,000–155,000:
- Fully funded PhD studentship (UK) or 12–24-month postdoctoral fellowship.
- 50% funded PhD studentship (international students).
- £250,000+: Fully funded PhD studentships (international) or endowed fellowships.
- £500,000–£1M: 4–8 fully funded PhD studentships (UK) or 2–4 fully funded fellowships.
- £1M–£3M: Endowed lectureships or 3–10 research positions.
- £3M+: Named professorship.
- King’s CICM named after donor: To be discussed.
Join Our Mission
Join Us Now to Shape History
✅ Modernise traditional medicine through rigorous science – extending life-changing care to billions
✅ Invest in WHO-priority initiatives – driving the evolution of global healthcare infrastructure
✅ Collaborate with elite multidisciplinary teams – co-creating and sharing the future of medical innovation
Your Contribution Will Directly Accelerate:
🔹 Groundbreaking ICM clinical trial outcomes with global impact
🔹 Real-world implementation of novel ICM disease prevention strategies
🔹 Next-generation clinical training models of ICM following best practices
Help us redefine integrative medicine through:
Research | Education | Global Health Innovation