Alastair Ager (PhD, MSc, BA) is the director of the Institute of Global Health and Development at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, since July 2015. He is currently seconded part-time to the Department for International Development (DFID), where he serves as deputy chief scientific adviser. He continues his affiliation as professor of population and family health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University in New York, since 2005.