Professor James Best is a distinguished endocrinologist who has made highly significant contributions to diabetes research including in discovery research and research into clinical problems including in regional Australia, primary care and the indigenous community. He has also been an outstanding leader in academic medicine in Australia and Singapore and is recognised globally as a clinician, academic, teacher and administrator. He has contributed at a senior level to the NHMRC and to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He continues to be active as Director of Research at Austin Health.