Neil is the Nuffield Professor of Child Health at Queen’s University Belfast, and an Honorary Consultant Paediatrician at Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children (with a special interest in paediatric cardiology).

He qualified in Manchester University in 1990. After postgraduate training in the North West of England in paediatrics, he took up a role as a Medical Officer in Embangweni Mission Hospital, Northern Malawi from 1997-2002.

After returning to Belfast to complete further paediatric and medical education training, he was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Child Health in QUB in 2005. He and his family returned to Malawi in 2008 where he was appointed as an Associate Professor in Paediatrics in the University of Malawi, based at the College of Medicine – Malawi’s only medical school. He was later appointed as Dean of Medicine. He undertook research and service development in several areas including rheumatic heart disease, and service provision for child survivors of sexual violence.

In 2016, Neil moved back to Belfast. He was appointed as Director of the Centre for Medical Education in 2017, leading the development and implementation of the new, ‘C25’ curriculum. He became the Deputy Head of School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science in 2024.

Neil is Chair of the Medical School’s Council policy group for the Acquired Knowledge Test – the national examination taken by all UK medical students.