Kristian Pollock is a senior research fellow in the School of Nursing at Nottingham University. She studied social anthropology at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge and has carried out qualitative research in a range of health service settings. She has a particular interest in lay and professional constructions of illness and health, the social and personal significance of medicines, 'knowledge' as a resource in coping with illness and professional-patient interaction in medical consultations. Her interest in concordance developed during the course of a five-year Concordance Research Fellowship, funded by the Department of Health, which she held jointly with Janet Grime at the Department of Medicines Management at Keele University.