An outsider’s tale in academia: the power of being different

An outsider’s tale in academia: the power of being different

Jason Gill is Professor of Cardiometabolic Health in the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health at the University of Glasgow. He was born in England in a mixed-race family and grew up in Hong Kong, returning to the UK to go University. He was (and still tries to be) a sporty nerd who didn’t (and still doesn’t) really fit in anywhere or with any particular group of people. His first degree – joint honours in Physics and Sports Science – reflects this odd combination. He never set out to be an academic and never had a grand plan. But over time he has used the power of being different, making connections, and harnessing luck to survive (and sometimes thrive) over three decades in academia.

The boring bit: Jason leads an active multi-disciplinary research group investigating the prevention and management of vascular and metabolic diseases and has published >200 peer-reviewed papers. This work includes epidemiology of lifestyle-related factors (principally physical activity, diet and sleep) and cardiometabolic disease risk, particularly why certain population groups appear to have increased susceptibility to the adverse effects of an ‘unhealthy’ lifestyle; lifestyle interventions for the prevention and management of cardiometabolic disease; and investigations into the mechanisms by which diet and exercise regulate insulin sensitivity and lipoprotein metabolism.  In recent years, he has become increasingly focused on collaborative projects involving biological and medical scientists working together with social scientists and external stakeholders to develop realistic and sustainable lifestyle interventions for the primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases. Jason has contributed to the UK Physical Activity guidelines, NICE guidelines for prevention of type 2 diabetes, and SIGN guidelines for obesity and cardiovascular disease. He is chair of the Diabetes UK Research Strategy Group for Prevention and Management of Type 2 diabetes, and an editor at the British Journal of Sports Medicine.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences.  Jason also plays an active role in communicating the science of physical activity, diet, obesity and cardiometabolic disease risk to the widest possible audience including a number of appearances on TV documentaries and organization of Understanding of Science events for the general public.