Keith Kerr graduated BSc with first class honours in Pathology in 1978, MB ChB in 1981, followed by post-graduate training in Pathology at Edinburgh University Medical School and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He obtained MRCPath in 1988, FRCPath in 1998 and was elected Honorary FRCP(Ed) in 2006. He has been a Consultant Pathologist in Aberdeen since 1989. He was awarded an Honorary Chair in Pulmonary Pathology by the University of Aberdeen in 2006.

Throughout his career, he has worked in diagnostic histopathology with a special interest in Thoracic Pathology, but has always maintained close links with the clinical practice of thoracic medicine, especially thoracic oncology. He has maintained an active research interest in his own laboratory as well as through national and international collaboration. He enjoys his ongoing commitments to under- and postgraduate teaching.

He has had a career long interest in lung cancer for over 35 years and has research interests in pulmonary pre-neoplasia and carcinogenesis, in lung tumour diagnosis and classification and in the identification of predictors of therapy response.

He has been a member of IASLC for 16 years and contributed to the last 7 WCLC meetings, including as invited faculty. He is a member of the IASLC Pathology Panel, participated in the 2004 IASLC/ASCO BAC workshop and worked in the core group for the 2011 IASLC/ATS/ERS Adenocarcinoma classification. He was elected to the IASLC Board of Directors for four years, 2013-2017. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

He was a member of the panel for the 2004 and 2015 WHO lung cancer classifications. He is a member of the International Mesothelioma Panel, and served as Pathology chair for the EORTC lung cancer group from 2006-2014. He is Pathology Chair for the ETOP Lungscape group. He has worked on numerous clinical research lung cancer trials groups (SLCF, NCRI, UKLS), guideline development for lung cancer diagnosis and management (RCPath, SIGN, NICE, BTS, ESMO, IASLC/ETOP, IASLC/CAP/AMP), conference scientific committees (ELCC, ESMO, BTOG) and other lung cancer organization committees (UKLCC, BTOG). He serves on the international Pulmonary Pathology Society council and is a British Thoracic Society member of more than 30 years. He is currently involved in the revision of the BTS Mesothelioma guidelines and is a panel member for the revision of the CAP/IASLC/AMP guidelines for molecular pathology testing in lung cancer. He is a regular invited speaker and faculty member at major international conferences, both in Pathology and in Thoracic Oncology.

Prof. Kerr became a member of ESMO in 2012 and joined the ESMO Faculty group for lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies as expert pathologist. He participates regularly in ESMO Conferences and Congresses as an invited speaker. He is a lead author of the ESMO Consensus Guidelines on pathology and molecular biomarkers for non-small-cell lung cancer.