Professor David Taube will become Director of the Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre on 1 September 2012

Professor David Taube, one of the country's leading nephrologists and the UK's only Professor of Transplant Medicine, has been appointed as the Director of the Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC).

Professor Taube, currently the medical director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Professor of Transplant Medicine at Imperial College London, will bring more than 25 years' experience in research, education and clinical leadership to the role. The Imperial College AHSC was established between Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London in 2007 as the first partnership of its kind in the UK.

Professor Taube, taking on the new post of director from 1 September, will play a pivotal role in driving the AHSC and realising fully its aspiration to transform healthcare by translating research discoveries into medical advances in as fast a timeframe as is possible.

Reporting jointly to the Principal of the College's Faculty of Medicine and the Chief Executive of the Trust, he will facilitate close collaboration between the partners. In leading the AHSC, strengthening the interface between clinical and academic activities, he will build on the innovation culture and implement strategies for channelling research excellence to deliver world class healthcare to local, national and global populations.

Welcoming the new appointment, Mark Davies, chief executive of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "I am delighted that Professor Taube has been appointed to lead the AHSC in its next stage of development. He embodies its tripartite mission as he is one of the country's finest nephrologists, a prolific translational researcher with a proven track record of raising education and training standards and driving the adoption of innovative practice in the largest renal and transplant centre in the UK."

Sir Keith O'Nions, President & Rector of Imperial College London, said: "We are fortunate that Professor Taube - a national leader in renal medicine - will steer Imperial's AHSC, harnessing the expertise of the Trust and College to bring benefits to patients. With a highly distinguished reputation as an academic, a clinician and an educator, and as a pioneer of techniques that deliver innovative care to patients, he is well equipped to develop the intersecting activities of the Trust and College. Under his leadership the AHSC will take confident steps forward, making a profound impact on healthcare at a local level and beyond."

Professor David Taube said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to strengthen the collaboration not simply between the Trust and the College but also between the AHSC and a wider network of partners within the UK and abroad all with the single overarching aim of vastly improving healthcare.

"Improving the care of patients has always driven everything I do and I am hugely excited by the prospect of achieving this through the AHSC in a more sophisticated way and on a much bigger and broader scale."

The national recruitment process for the Trust's new medical director already underway with an appointment expected in the autumn. In the meantime, Professor David Taube will be succeeded on an interim basis by Dr David Mitchell, Imperial College Healthcare's current medical director for professional services.