Dian Donnai is Professor of Medical Genetics in the University of Manchester and Consultant Clinical Geneticist, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. She trained in paediatrics and clinical genetics and has a major interest in the care and investigation of children with developmental disorders. She was the service head then academic head of the Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine from 1997 until 2008 and is now Strategic Clinical Director for Saint Mary’s Hospital where the Centre is based. Her research has focussed on elucidating the underlying causes of dysmorphic disorders; she founded the biennial International Manchester Dysmorphology Conference series in 1986 which has acted as a focus for many research collaborations and, with colleagues, runs the annual ESHG-sponsored European Dysmorphology Course. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in Genetics by the March of Dimes in 2010, the ESHG Education Award in 2011 and the ASHG Arno Motulsky-Barton Childs Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Education in 2017. She has also been involved with genetic service development including a term as consultant advisor to the Chief Medical Officer of England (1998-2004). She was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in Her Majesty’s New Year Honours in 2005 for services to medicine and was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2001. She is past president of the Clinical Genetics Society (1997-9) and the European Society for Human Genetics (2009-10)