Professor Mika Kivimaki, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, is the director of the Whitehall II study, a cohort study of British civil servants who have been followed up with clinical examinations every five year since 1985. He is also the principal investigator of the Individual-Participant-Data Meta-analysis in Working Populations (IPD-Work) consortium of 17 European cohort studies and a collaborator with multiple other research consortia. The overarching aim of his research is to increase understanding on adulthood risk factors for impaired functioning and common chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and depression.