Martin McKee is Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is also Co-Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and Past President of the European Public Health Association and of the British Medical Association. He trained in medicine and public health and has written extensively on health and health policy, with a particular focus on countries undergoing political and social transition. He is committed to international law and to standing up for science at a time when it is being attacked by opportunistic politicians, whose actions are causing deaths and despair on a vast scale.