This Centre is an integrated scientific and clinical research team dedicated to increasing scientific understanding of the interaction of laser light and biological tissues for improving treatment of a range of human diseases. Directors Welcome Welcome to the National Medical Laser Centre. The University College London Hospitals have been a focus for the development of new laser treatments for over 20 years. It is our philosophy to try and understand how various types of laser therapy affect diseased tissues and then establish how to use these techniques safely and appropriately in clinical practice. It is often possible to apply the same principles to treat diseases in a range of different parts of the body.
Some laser treatments are now routine although many are still at the stage of early clinical trials.
This web site outlines current services and trials. The National Medical Laser Centre was set up in the Department of Surgery in University College London Medical School in 1986 as a means of consolidating the wide range of medical laser activities conducted in University College Hospital since 1978. It was supported principally by the Special Medical Development on Lasers from the Department of Health and by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund . In 1990, a unique Chair in Laser Medicine and Surgery was created for the Director of the Laser Centre, Stephen Bown . A wide variety of projects have been undertaken at the Centre, which has a philosophy of understanding laser tissue interactions in the laboratory and then introducing them into clinical practice for the benefit of patients.