I am currently Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology & Public Health at the University of Dundee, having retired from full time employment in 1999. I was President of the International Epidemiological Association from 1999-2002.

My research interests have been wide ranging over the past 30 years and include the epidemiology of ischaemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and lung disease and other conditions in relation to air pollution. More recently I have studied various aspects of obstetrics and child development. This has included studies of the effects of moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy on the outcome of pregnancy.

I have had a long term interest in computer assisted learning but was only able to realise Studying Populations in the early 1990s, when development funds became available from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council in its Teaching and Learning through Technology Programme.