Dr Zisis Kozlakidis is the Head of Laboratory Services and Biobanking at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO). He is responsible for one of the largest and most varied international collections of clinical samples in the world, focusing on gene–environment interactions and disease-based collections. This WHO infrastructure supports multinational efforts in making treatments possible and delivering those to resource-restricted settings. Dr Kozlakidis is a virologist, with a PhD in microbiology from Imperial College London. He is Fellow of the Linnean Society, the Royal Academy of Sciences, UK, and a Turnberg Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences. Dr Kozlakidis is the immediate past President of ISBER, member of the BBMRI-ERIC Management Council and a Scientific Advisor at PTEN Foundation, UK. He holds faculty positions in China (Central South University), and the UK (St George’s School of Medicine and Cass Business School, University of London).