Sir Harry Burns is a professor of global public health at the University of Strathclyde. In September 2016, the Scottish Government announced that he would chair an independent review of targets in Scotland's NHS, with an initial report and recommendations expected in spring 2017. Sir Harry was knighted in 2011 and in 2014 the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, presented him a lifetime achievement award from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament for Public Service. Sir Harry served as chief medical officer for Scotland, where his responsibilities included aspects of public health policy, health protection and, for a time, sport. He also worked as director of public health for the Greater Glasgow Health Board, a position he occupied until 2005. Sir Harry completed a Master's Degree of Public Health in 1990 and shortly afterwards was appointed medical director of The Royal Infirmary. He is a graduate in medicine from Glasgow University and was appointed as a consultant surgeon in the University Department of Surgery at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow in 1984. Working with patients in the east end of Glasgow gave him an insight into the complex inter-relationships between social and economic status and illness.