Dr Willan is an academic biostatistician and clinical trial methodologist, and currently holds the positions of Professor of Biostatistics in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University. His contributions to statistical methodology include publications in the areas of cost-effectiveness analysis, value of information methods, management trials, crossover trials, non-nested regression analysis and bivariate response models. Dr Willan has been particularly instrumental in developing the field of statistical analysis of cost-effectiveness data with twenty peer-review articles and a book, co-authored with Professor Andy Briggs, in the Wiley Statistics in Practice series, entitled Statistical Analysis of Cost-effectiveness Data. More recently Dr Willan’s research interest has focused on using value of information methods for the optimal design and analysis of clinical studies, with seventeen peer-reviewed articles and two book chapters. Dr Willan’s collaborative research has been primarily in clinical trials in obstetrics and paediatrics with numerous high profile trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet. Previously held positions include Senior Scientist at SickKids Research Institute, Head of Biometry of the Clinical Trials Program at the National Cancer Institute of Canada and Head of Clinical Trials and Epidemiology for the Cancer Program at Sunnybrook Medical Centre in Toronto.