[1] He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle,[2] trained at Cambridge University and St Thomas' Hospital, qualifying in 1971 and subsequently specialising in gastroenterology, specifically liver disease.
[3] In 2010 he was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours' in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Medicine.
[5] In 2001, he chaired a Royal College of Physicians working party that produced the report "Alcohol – can the NHS afford it?
[7] In August 2010, Sir Ian said that "making drugs such as heroin and cocaine legal would 'drastically' cut crime and addicts' health problems" in interviews with both newspapers and the BBC.
[8][9] He resigned from his position with Public Health England when the agency refused to break their connection with Drinkaware in their Drink Free Days campaign in 2018.