Ian is Chair of Cancer Voices Victoria and is a volunteer with Cancer Connect and a consumer advocate. It is seven years since his diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Ian is a Senior Fellow in the Youth Research Centre at the University of Melbourne. With a background in medical research, related to the development of anti-cancer drugs, his research interests have remained in the health sector. However these interests have shifted with his career and have included: research in academia and at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, a period as Dean of Whitley College, the Graduate School of Management at Monash University; and as a lecturer in management studies in the former Department of Education Policy and Management at the University of Melbourne. His current research includes: human resource issues in the implementation of medical technology; management training in the community services and health sector; patient learning; young people and volunteering.

Other cancer related activities include: membership of Ministerial Task Force on Cancer; consumer advisor to North Eastern Metropolitan Integrated Cancer Service; Chair of the National Cancer Nursing project and a member of a number of Cancer Australia related committees and working parties.