Iain Atherton Edinburgh Napier University, UK

Dr Iain Atherton trained as a nurse before going back to university to study development and then demography. He is fascinated by how our lives are shaped and shape the societies in which we live. His clinical work and research have led him to develop critical thinking about the links between nursing practice and wider society. He teaches health care practitioners statistics and population health. His research uses 'big data' to answer pressing questions on topics including the circumstances of people at the end of life, the implications of demographic change for the nursing profession, and the implications of social circumstances and place for survival after a diagnosis of cancer.