Ian McKeith holds the Foundation Chair of Old Age Psychiatry in Newcastle. His papers from 1991, were among the first to suggest that Lewy Body Disease was a distinct form of dementia. He then went on to delineate the clinical features of this disorder, and correlate these with neuropathology. He led the group which published the (now very widely used) diagnostic criteria to distinguish Lewy Body dementia from other dementias. His current work uses knowledge of the distinct neuropathology of the disease to improve and target treatment in the dementias. He is also renowned as an excellent communicator of science.