Ian is currently chief scientific advisor to the Department of Health and Director of Research and Development for Health and Social Care, as well as the Devolved Nations Representative for Northern Ireland. In addition, he is professor of medicine at Queen’s University Belfast, where he was also director of the Centre for Public Health from 2008–2014, and deputy medical director and consultant chemical pathologist at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. Ian’s main clinical and research interests are in biochemical aspects of nutrition, particularly in relation to disease prevention. He is an author of over 350 published research papers and has obtained over £30 million in research income. He is chair of the Scientific Division of the International Federation for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, the world’s leading laboratory medicine organisation, and associate editor of Clinical Chemistry, the journal of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. He is a member of the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Institute of Biological Standards and Controls.