Anthony (Tony) Absalom studied medicine at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and underwent specialist training in East Anglia and Scotland in the UK. He is currently Professor of Anaesthesiology at the University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands. His clinical interests are procedural sedation, anaesthesia for neurosurgery, and intravenous anaesthesia techniques. His research interests are in the domains of pharmacology and neuroscience. He is a former editor of the British Journal of Anaesthesia, and is currently financial director of the BJA Charitable Company. He has previously been President of the Society for Intravenous Anaesthesia, vice-president of the World Society for Intravenous Anaesthesia, Chairman of the Neuroanaesthesia Section of the Dutch Association of Anaesthetists and Chair of the General Anaesthesia Scientific Sub-committee of the European Society of Anesthesiology.