During his career, Dougan has pioneered work on enteric diseases and been heavily involved in the movement to improve vaccine usage in developing countries.

Before moving to the WTSI he was the Director of the Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection at the Imperial College London and a Professor of Physiological Biochemistry.

Dougan was a lecturer in the Moyne Institute in Trinity College, Dublin[citation needed] and then worked for over ten years in industry developing vaccines and novel drugs at the Wellcome Foundation (now GlaxoSmithKline GSK).

His nomination reads: Gordon Dougan is distinguished through his investigations into how bacteria interact with and stimulate the mucosal surfaces of the body during infection.

He has made important contributions to basic studies on the molecular basis of the infection process, genomics and to the development of practical vaccines.