Simon Tavaré is Professor of Cancer Research and of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He is a statistician and computational biologist who has provided methods for the analysis and interpretation of genomic data. His recent work concerns the statistical analysis of microarray experiments. He has also developed new statistical approaches for the analysis of human disease. Using single-sperm PCR data from triplet-repeat expansions in Huntington disease he provided the first statistical framework for inferring the molecular mechanism. His research on human colon crypt dynamics showed they are long-lived, and contain multiple stem cells. He brings invaluable skills at the interface between mathematical and biomedical science.