Julian Knight, Professor of Genomic Medicine at the University of Oxford, has made a series of major contributions to the development of new approaches in the study of genetics and their application to clinical problems in common human diseases. He is noted for developing the first multi-disciplinary team approach to genomic testing and interpretation in the UK which was rolled out into the NHS. His work has advanced the discovery of new drug targets, using genome-wide association studies and genome annotation to identify key pathways and functions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he initiated and led a landmark study involving 119 scientists, using multiple genetic, molecular, cellular and spatial phenotyping toolsets to compare samples from over 100 patients with COVID-19, influenza and sepsis.