Anthony C. Gatrell is a geographer by background and training, whose undergraduate and postgraduate career prepared him for early reserach in quantitative geography, spatial analysis, and Geographical Information Systems. His interest in applying this knowledge to problems of disease distribution turned him into a "medical geographer, " though more recent interests in broader health research have seen him transformed into a "health geographer." Presently, he is Professor of the Geography of Health at Lancaster University (where he has worked since 1984), and the Director of the Institute for Health Research