John Cummings is Emeritus Professor of Experimental Gastroenterology in the University of Dundee. He is a member of the University’s Division of Cancer Research in the Medical Research Institute and was Honorary Consultant in Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Ninewells hospital until 2007.

He graduated in medicine in 1964 and after undertaking specialist clinical training in gastroenterology, joined the staff of the Medical Research Council in London. He worked for the MRC for 28 years, firstly, at the Gastroenterology Unit and, latterly, at the Dunn Clinical Nutrition Unit in Cambridge. His primary research interests have been in digestive physiology and disease and, particularly, the role of the gut microflora in determining gastrointestinal function and the prevention of cancer and bowel diseases.