Cedric Mims began as a zoologist, studying under GP Wells and JBS Haldane at University College, London. He then went to the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, graduating in 1952. After hospital appointments he spent three years in Uganda studying tropical fevers, and then 16 years in Canberra, Australia, interspersed with two years in the USA. This was followed by a 20-year period in London as Professor of Microbiology at Guy's Hospital Medical School, where his enthusiasm for teaching found its outlet. His entire career has focused on infectious diseases and immunology, and he has produced five books and more than a hundred scientific papers on these subjects. He has four children and nine grandchildren and lives in the Sussex countryside.