Professor Gary Ford is Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Academic Health Science Network, Consultant Stroke Physician at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Professor of Stroke Medicine at Oxford University. He is current Chair of the AHSN Network of 15 AHSNs across England. He has been involved in many service innovations in UK stroke care in the last 20 years including developing the first thrombolysis protocol for acute stroke in England and the Face Arm Speech Test (FAST). Gary was Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Stroke Research Network from 2005-2014. He was awarded a CBE in 2013 for services to research in stroke medicine. He is a non-executive Director at NICE and a member of the NIHR Strategy Board. In 2018 Gary was identified as one of seven NIHR research legends whose work has transformed care in the NHS.