Prof Jim Mann has been Professor in Human Nutrition and Medicine at the University of Otago and Consultant Physician (Endocrinology) in Dunedin Hospital for the past 20 years.  For the preceding 15 years he lectured at the University of Oxford and worked as a Physician in the Radcliffe Infirmary.   He is also the Director of the Edgar National Centre for Diabetes Research and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Human Nutrition. His research and clinical work have principally been in the fields of lipids and carbohydrates as they relate to coronary heart disease and diabetes and in the field of obesity. He has been author and co-author of over 200 papers published in peer reviewed journals and written and edited several textbooks and popular books, most recently the “Essentials of Human Nutrition” (4th Edition soon to be published by Oxford University Press).

As Principal Investigator he was awarded the international Bristol-Myers Squibb/Mead Johnson Unrestricted Grant for Human Nutrition, was the third recipient of the University of Otago Distinguished Research Medal in 2002 and in 2004 he received the Sir Charles Hercus Medal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.  He was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Medicine in 2003.  He was also awarded the Distinguished Researcher Award from the Dunedin School of Medicine for 2005. He has been involved with national and international government and nongovernmental organisations (including WHO, IDF, IUNS, EASD and WCRF) in developing guideline development relating to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and nutrition.