I am Professor Emerita of Medical Sociology, having retired at the end of 2012. My last job at UCL was Director of the ESRC Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health, in which I co-ordinated a scientific programme combining sociology, epidemiology, human biology, and statistics. ICLS was granted another 5 years' funding to begin in 2013. Its research uses all of the UK's open-access longitudinal data sets to investigate policy-related questions such as the longer term effects of breast feeding and parent-child relationships, the relationship between unemployment and health, and the influences on quality of life as people grow older. The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL is one of the very few places where such a cross-disciplinary programme could be undertaken as it has traditionally combined these areas of expertise. I continue to do some teaching and writing and to participate in projects such as LIFEPATH.