Doctor, academic, teacher, politician, and policy adviser. This combination of skills is at the core of Elias Mossialos's achievements in shaping health policy in many countries. As Professor of Health Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Imperial College London for the past 15 years, he is as committed to rigorous research as he is to changing practice in health-care systems. “I want to bring ideas out of the lecture hall and into health systems”, he says. Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, is clear about Mossialos's contribution to global health policy developments, “Elias has spent his professional life breaking down borders.