Rate My Professor Kawal Rhode

Professor Kawal Rhode serves as Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Head of Education at the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences within the Engineering discipline at King’s College London. He commenced his academic journey at King’s in 1989 as an undergraduate student in medicine at St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School, part of the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’. In 1992, he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Basic Medical Sciences and Radiological Sciences. Pursuing his interest in technology, he completed a PhD at University College London’s Department of Surgery in 2006, focusing on the measurement of arterial blood flow from dynamic digital X-ray images. Following his doctorate, Rhode returned to King’s College London as a postdoctoral researcher in the Division of Imaging Sciences from 2001 to 2007, developing registration methods for cardiac MRI to X-ray fluoroscopy for guiding minimally invasive catheter procedures. His career advanced rapidly: appointed Lecturer in Image Processing in 2007, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2011, Reader in Biomedical Engineering in 2015, and Professor in 2016. In addition to his professorial role, he has overseen educational programmes including BEng/MEng Biomedical Engineering, MSc Healthcare Technologies, and MSc Clinical Sciences Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering. In February 2026, he was appointed Head of Integrated Engineering Education at King’s College London, marking 25 years of service and contributions to shaping multiple degree programmes.

Rhode’s research interests lie in image-guided interventions, medical image processing, patient-specific cardiac biophysical modelling, medical robotics, 3D printing in healthcare, pedagogy for biomedical engineering, and translational research. He has authored or co-authored more than 400 publications, patents, and book chapters, with notable recent works including “Pre-Curved Everting Robots with Embedded Steering Intelligence Fabricated by CO2 Laser Welding” (2026, Advanced Intelligent Systems), “Development and Evaluation of a Reusable Self-Healing Ultrasound Phantom for Vascular Access” (2026, Applied Sciences), “Compact Design and Image-Space Pose Control of a Robot for Tendon-Driven Concentric Catheters in Mitral Repair Interventions” (2025, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics), and “A novel thermochromic myocardial phantom for radiofrequency ablation and cryoablation” (2025, Scientific Reports). His contributions extend to leading projects such as the EPSRC-funded Three-Dimensional Hybrid Guidance System for Cardiac Interventional Procedures and collaborations with NIHR and Wellcome Trust. Rhode received the Anatomical Society Education Innovation Award in 2023 for educational advancements. His work has significant impact on MedTech innovation, supporting clinical applications in cardiac interventions and training, aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goals for health, education, and infrastructure.