Peter Friend obtained his medical degree from the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and has a doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge. He was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2020. After specialist training, he spent a year in the USA, initiating the Indiana University liver transplant programme, returning in 1989 to an academic consultant post at Cambridge. He moved to the University of Oxford in 1999 as Professor of Transplantation and consultant in transplant and HPB surgery. His research focuses on organ perfusion, novel immunosuppressive strategies and pancreas transplantation. He is a Vice-president and Trustee of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He is a past-president of the British Transplantation Society. He is the Chief Medical Officer, and co-founder of OrganOx, a spin-out company from the University of Oxford.