Peter Elwood

Professor of Epidemiology at Cardiff University, Wales

MD, DSc, FRCP, FFPHM and two honorary doctorates

A medical epidemiologist, who worked with Archie Cochrane for many years and succeeded him as Director of the MRC Unit in Wales.

Elwood reached his sell-by date some years ago and was granted an honorary Professorship in Cardiff University. This enables him to continue working on issues in nutrition and health, on factors relevant to heart disease and stroke prevention, and on factors predictive of dementia.

In 50 years of research Elwood has published over 300 papers, covering a wide range of epidemiological topics. His apogee was the publication by his team of the first randomised trial aspirin and mortality after myocardial infarction. His interest in aspirin prophylaxis has continued, and he is first author on a recent paper on Aspirin, Salicylates and Cancer published in the Lancet. The contribution of milk and dairy foods to health and to survival has been another major interest of Elwood for the past ten and more years.

Elwood has a major concern over the communication of research findings to the general public and the promotion of informed debate. Together with colleagues he organised a citizens’ Jury: "My Health, whose responsibility?", and is currently organising another on "Rights and Responsibilities in Medical Research". For the past seven years he has also organised monthly Public Lectures on topics of concern in health care.

Elwood’s other interests are his grand children, cosmology, and the piano - on which he struggles with the music of Bach.