Cyrus Cooper is well known to us here. He is Professor of Rheumatology and Director of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit; Vice-Dean of Medicine at the University of Southampton; and Professor of Musculoskeletal Science at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford.

He has made major epidemiological contributions to the pathophysiology and prevention of osteoporosis, to the epidemiology of osteoarthritis and on the occupational and environmental determinants of soft tissue rheumatic disorders. His key research contributions have been in discovery of the developmental influences which contribute to the risk of osteoporosis and hip fracture in late adulthood and in demonstrating that maternal vitamin D insufficiency is associated with sub-optimal bone mineral accrual in childhood.