Gavin Perkins is Professor of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Warwick and National Institute for Health Research Senior Investigator. He is Director of Warwick Clinical Trials Unit and an active researcher in emergency and critical care settings. Clinically he holds appointments as a Consultant Physician in Critical Care Medicine at University Hospitals Birmingham and MERIT Team Consultant with West Midlands Ambulance Service. Prof Perkins’ portfolio of work includes the National Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Outcomes (http://warwick.ac.uk/ohcao), the PARAMEDIC trials (PARAMEDIC-1, mechanical CPR, PARAMEDIC-2, adrenaline for cardiac arrest), and clinical trials in critical illness (BALTI studies, Breathe trial, RECOVERY-RS, RePHILL). He serves as Director of Guidelines for the European Resuscitation Council and is Co-chair of the International International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (www.ilcor.org).