Pharos AI is a major UK initiative using artificial intelligence to accelerate cancer research and care.
PharosAI brings together large-scale cancer data and advanced AI models to support new approaches to diagnosis, drug discovery and treatment. Backed by over £40 million in public and private investment, it is one of the UK’s most ambitious programmes in cancer AI and aims to position the country as a global leader in this rapidly evolving field.
The partnership is co-led by Queen Mary University of London and King’s College London, alongside Barts Health NHS Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. Researchers at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, led by Professor Louise Jones and Professor Claude Chelala, play a central role, with leadership in biobanking, data science and multimodal analysis helping to shape the programme’s scientific direction.
PharosAI is building a secure platform that brings together clinical, imaging and genomic data, enabling researchers to apply AI tools at scale. By improving access to high-quality data and overcoming longstanding barriers to its use, the initiative aims to support earlier diagnosis, more precise treatment decisions and new therapeutic discoveries.
