Professor Parks pursued his surgical training in Northern Ireland, and was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1993. He undertook a period of full-time research in the Department of Surgery, Queens University Belfast. This work investigated the effect of obstructive jaundice on gut barrier function and resulted in the award of a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1997. This work investigated the effect of obstructive jaundice on gut barrier function and resulted in the award of a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Queen’s University of Belfast in 1997. Following this he completed his higher surgical training on the Northern Ireland higher surgical training programme and undertook a clinical fellowship in hepato-pancreatico-biliary surgery and transplantation at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Professor Parks was awarded his Certificate of Completion of Surgical Training (CCST) in 1999 and in the same year was appointed a Senior Lecturer in Surgery and Honorary Consultant Surgeon in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He was subsequently promoted to Reader in Surgery in 2006 and was awarded a personal chair in 2010. Professor Parks is past Chairman of the South East of Scotland Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Group and previous Lead Clinician for the Scottish National Managed Clinical Network for Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer from 2005 to 2010. Professor Parks contributes significantly to postgraduate education. He has been Training Programme Director and Chair of the Regional Surgical Training Committee and acted as Regional Education Advisor in South East of Scotland (2006-2008). He was Associate Postgraduate Dean in the South East of Scotland (2008-2012), Chairman of the Scottish Specialty Training Board for Surgical Specialities (2009-2012) and Deputy Medical Director of NHS Education for Scotland (2012-2022).