Dr Frank Thies graduated in animal Physiology from the University of Burgundy (France) in 1987 before undertaking a PhD in Nutritional Physiology, also at the University of Burgundy and awarded in 1991. Dr Thies then completed a three year Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Institute of Health (Bethesda, USA) before joining Professor Philip Calder’s group within the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford University. In 1998, he moved to the University of Southampton before taking a lecturer position in Human Nutrition at the University of Aberdeen in 2001. He was then promoted to Senior lecturer in 2005, and Reader in 2013. The main research interests of Dr Thies relates to the influence of various dietary components on cardiovascular function and cardiovascular risk, with particular emphasis being placed on the role of inflammatory processes.