Professor David Hawkes graduated from Oxford with a BA in Natural Sciences (Physics) in 1974 and obtained an MSc in Radiolobiology in Birmingham in 1975. His first post was as a clinical scientist in nuclear medicine at Southampton General Hospital. After obtaining his PhD in 1982 at the University of Surrey and the Institute of Cancer Research he spent seven years working as a clinical scientist at St. George’s Hospital, London, before returning in 1988 to academia at the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals (UMDS), where he received a personal Chair in 1998. He was elected FMedSci in 2011, FBIR in 2007, FREng in 2002, FInstP in 1997 and FIPEM in 1993. He became an NIHR Senior Investigator in 2009.