Professor Tim Cole Is Professor of Medical Statistics at University College’s institute of Child Health. His interest in human growth, development and ageing was stimulated by his early research on lung function in health and disease at the MRC Pneumoconiosis Research Unit in South Wales. In the course of his academic career he has made many seminal statistical contributions to the scientific study of human growth and development. He has applied mathematics in a novel way to physiology, using isotope probes in the fields of energy metabolism, body composition and body fluid kinetics. These methods have underpinned internationally prominent research in human nutrition. He developed the now internationally accepted definitions for childhood overweight and obesity, anticipating the importance of reliably assessing changes over time and comparisons between countries in these measures. We welcome him into the Fellowship in recognition of his very broad mathematical and statistical contributions to human and biomedical sciences.