Ian Young is currently Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Health, Northern Ireland, and Director of Research and Development for Health and Social Care.  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 Consultant Chemical Pathologist at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.  His main clinical and research interests are in nutrition, particularly in relation to cardiovascular disease prevention.  He is author of over 450 published research papers.  He is Past-President of the UK Association for Laboratory Medicine, and previous Chair of the Joint Committee for Traceability in Laboratory Medicine (JCTLM) and the Scientific Division of the International Federation for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. He currently Deputy Editor for the journal Clinical Chemistry, Chair of the Harmonization Oversight Group of the International Consortium for the Harmonization for Clinical Laboratory Results (ICHCLR), and Chair of the UK Government Scientific Advisory Committee for Nutrition.