Ford was born in Glasgow and educated at the former Hamilton Academy. He studied at the University of Glasgow, graduating with a BSc and in 1976, was awarded a PhD in Statistics. From 1976-77, he was visiting Lecturer to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and since then successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, Personal Professor and Professor at the University of Glasgow.[1] He is the first holder of the Chair of Biostatistics at the University.[2]
Ford has been the Director of the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics since 1991[3] and Director of the Glasgow Clinical Trials Unit. He is also a member of the editorial boards for the international journals, Statistical Methods for Medical Research;[4] Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice[5] and Public Library of Science Medicine.[6][7] He has written numerous papers.[8][9][10]
In 1999, Ford was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[11] He is also a Fellow of both the International Statistical Institute and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.[12] A member of the Cholesterol Triallists Collaboration and the Fibrinogen Studies Collaboration, Ford is also a member of the American Statistical Association; Statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry; the Drug Information Association; the Royal Statistical Society; and the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics.[13]
From 2000–04, Ford served as Dean of the Faculty of Information and Mathematical Sciences, University of Glasgow.[1]
