John Last has held academic positions with the British Medical Research Council in London, at the Universities of Sydney, Vermont (USA), and Edinburgh and has been professor of epidemiology and community medicine at the University of Ottawa since 1969. He was the editor of the 11th 12th and 13th editions of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and editor emeritus of the 14th edition ("Maxcy-Rosenau-Last"); editor of the 1st, 2nd , 3rd and 4th editions of the Dictionary of Epidemiology, and author of the 1st and 2nd editions of Public Health and Human Ecology.