Professor John Edmunds is Dean of the Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is a world authority on mathematical modelling of the spread of infectious diseases and the design of efficient control programmes to inform public health decision-making. His published articles include a number of paradigm shifting papers on more realistic mathematical models through the use of social contact data; the use of dynamic models in economic evaluations of infectious disease control programmes; and more recently on a novel trial design. Professor Edmunds is also an influential advisor on immunisation programmes nationally and at the World Health Organisation.