Professor Maynard retired from the UK's Health Protection Agency (now Public Health England) in 2011, having led the Department of Health's and, subsequently, the Health Protection Agency's work on the effects of air pollution on health since 1990. He was appointed CBE in 2000. He is an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Public Health, Birmingham University and Honorary Principal Fellow in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, London.

Professor Atkinson has worked in air pollution epidemiology for over 20 years. He has studied both the long- and short-term effects of air pollution on health in the UK and collaborated extensively with research colleagues in Europe, the US and elsewhere. He has published several systematic reviews in the field, undertaking work for the UK Government, the European Commission, WHO and the US Health Effects Agency. He was a member of the UK advisory committee on the health effects of air pollutants (COMEAP) from 2009 to 2019. He has many years of experience teaching statistics and research methods to medical students and scientists.