Professor Brown is a clinician-scientist who has made major contributions to the development of gene-mapping approaches in human diseases. He played a significant role in the development of genomewide association study methodology, leading to the discovery of thousands of genetic variants associated with a wide range of human diseases. More recently he contributed to the development of sequencing approaches to mutation mapping in unrelated cases. He has led international efforts in mapping genes in rheumatic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma), osteoporosis, neurological diseases (motor neurone disease, epilepsy), and tuberculosis, as well as contributing to efforts in many other diseases.