About the KIR Trust
The Mathilda and Terence Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Trust (the KIR Trust) was founded in 1965/66 with a donation of £500,000 by Terence and Mathilda Kennedy. Originally the Trust had its own Research Institute in Bute Gardens next to the West London Hospital in Hammersmith and was the first research institute in the world totally dedicated to Rheumatology.
In 1992, the Kennedy Research Institute (KIR) acquired the Sunley Research Centre at Charing Cross Hospital and, following refurbishment and building of a new wing, relocated there in April 1997. In 2000 the KIR was incorporated into Imperial College as a separate division of Imperial College School of Medicine.
The Trust continues to operate as a separate registered charity whose main purpose is supporting the work of the Kennedy Division by means of a continuing programme of grant awards and a commitment to fund new research facilities. The Kennedy Division also continues to receive a generous grant from the Arthritis Research UK.
