Hugh Montgomery – Medicine at the Front Line

Hugh Montgomery obtained a 1st class BSc in Cardiorespiratory Physiology and Neuropharmacology in 1984, his Medical Degree in 1987, and his research doctorate (MDRes) in 1997. He completed specialist training in General Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Intensive Care Medicine and is now a consultant Intensivist in London. Unlike many academics, Hugh continues to spend around 25% of his time working day and night on the wards in a North London Intensive Care Unit, ensuring his insights remain grounded in frontline reality.
Earlier in his career, he worked in the Zulu Territories as one of only two doctors responsible for a 700-patient remote rural facility – an experience that shaped his understanding of leadership, resilience and ethical decision-making under constraint.

Covid, Crisis Leadership and Public Communication

During the 2020–21 Covid pandemic, Hugh played a central role in the UK response. He sat on the council of the UK Intensive Care Society, chaired the UK National Covid Critical Care Committee, and co-authored national clinical guidelines that shaped practice across the country. Alongside this, he became a trusted public voice, delivering extensive interviews across print, radio and television in the UK and internationally.
This unique combination of operational leadership, policy influence and public communication allows Hugh to speak with authority on crisis leadership, systems under stress, and how organisations can adapt in moments of profound uncertainty.

Research, Discovery and Human Performance

Hugh is Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at University College London, where he also directs the Centre for Human Health and Performance. He has published more than 900 scientific research articles and has received over 15 national and international awards. He is perhaps best known for identifying what was described in 1998 as the first gene associated with human fitness, but his research spans diverse areas including cancer spread, survival determinants and performance under extreme physiological stress.
His fascination with human limits extends far beyond the laboratory. Hugh was research lead for the 2007 Xtreme Everest Research Expedition, translating findings from high-altitude extremes into insights relevant for medicine, performance and organisational resilience.

Exploration, Extremes and Decision-Making

From a young age, Hugh has tested human capability in some of the most demanding environments on Earth. He trained as a diver and joined the Mary Rose Diving Team at just 15, contributing to the recovery of Henry VIII’s flagship from the Solent. He later gained a commercial diving licence, working on an Etruscan wreck off Giglio and a Phoenician harbour site in Sicily.
An accomplished endurance athlete, he has completed multiple ultramarathons of 100–150 km nonstop. He holds a Category X skydiving licence and is a committed mountaineer. His climbing has taken him from the Welsh and Scottish hills to the Alps, the Andes – where he set the record for the fastest ascent of Mount Aconcagua at 6,997 metres – and the Himalaya, including a successful ascent of Cho Oyu at 8,201 metres. These experiences inform powerful lessons on preparation, teamwork, risk, failure and success.

Climate Change, Health and Global Leadership

Climate change and health is now one of Hugh’s defining areas of work. He chaired the two Lancet Commissions on Human Health and Climate Change and currently co-chairs the 57-country Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change. He has written and lectured extensively on the subject, briefed policymakers nationally and internationally, and co-leads the UCL MSc module on climate and health.
Hugh was appointed a London Leader by the Greater London Authority’s Sustainable Development Commission, has attended numerous international COP negotiations, and leads the children’s climate education initiative Project Genie. He co-led the ITV documentary on floods and climate change in 2020 and was awarded an OBE in 2022, in part for his work linking climate change and human health. In 2023, he founded the non-profit Real Zero to mobilise the global health economy as a lever for wider decarbonisation. In 2025, he was appointed co-chair of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, representing more than one million healthcare professionals.

Innovation, AI and Creative Work

Beyond academia and policy, Hugh is an inventor with patents spanning treatments for cancer wasting and stroke injury prevention, patient hydration technology, a novel pollution-removal mask and a new asthma inhaler. He has chaired multiple corporate advisory boards and advises organisations ranging from pharmaceutical and biotech firms to electronics and technology manufacturers. He also works in artificial intelligence applied to health, having consulted one day per week with DeepMind Health, part of Alphabet.
Hugh is a published author, writing award-winning children’s books including The Voyage of the Arctic Tern and Cloudsailors, as well as the thriller Control, with a follow-up novel BoomBust nearing completion. He has written and presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and appeared widely on television as both expert and presenter.

Book Hugh Montgomery for your event to access a speaker who connects science, leadership, climate, health and human performance with clarity, authority and rare authenticity.