Professor Wood is a cardiologist committed to prevention of cardiovascular disease and holds joint emeritus academic appointments at Imperial College and the University of Galway. He has contributed to international policy and guidelines on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention through the World Health Organisation, World Heart Federation and the European Society of Cardiology. He was a founder and President of the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, a Board member and Secretary/Treasurer of the European Society of Cardiology and most recently President of the World Heart Federation.

He is the principal investigator for the ASPIRE, EUROASPIRE and INTERASPIRE studies across countries in Europe and around the world, evaluating standards of preventive cardiology practice in hospital and primary care. He led the EUROACTION and EUROACTION+ trials in preventive cardiology evaluating nurse-led models of preventive care in hospital and general practice across 8 European countries, and the principals of EUROACTION were incorporated in the Imperial College NHS MyAction Cardiovascular Health programme for the NHS. He was Course Director for the MSc in Preventive Cardiology at Imperial College.

He is now working for the National Institute for Prevention and Cardiovascular Health as Director of Research and International Relations to support the development of research in all aspects of cardiovascular prevention, to help expand the Galway MSc course in Preventive Cardiology into a portfolio of MSc courses in cardiovascular health and disease prevention, including obesity and diabetes, and to contribute to innovative service development for prevention of CVD using m-health:INTERCEPT-App.

He is Senior Editor of the European Society of Cardiology Textbook of Preventive Cardiology and also founded the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (now European Journal of Preventive Cardiology) and served as the first Joint Editor in Chief.

He is married to Professor Catriona Jennings, a cardiovascular specialist nurse, and they have four adult children and most recently welcomed their first granddaughter into the family. He enjoys cooking for family and friends, good wine and conversation and being at sea, having circumnavigated the UK in a Frances 26 sailing boat.