Peter C. Smith is Professor of Health Policy at the Imperial College Business School and Institute for Global Health. He is a mathematics graduate from the University of Oxford, and was formerly Director of the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York. He has published widely on the financing and performance of health systems and the broader public sector, and has a special interest on the links between research evidence and policy. Professor Smith has advised UK governments on numerous finance and productivity issues, was a board member of the Audit Commission, and is currently a member of the NHS Cooperation and Competition Panel. He has also acted as consultant to many overseas ministries and international agencies, including the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.