Dennis Gillings

Sir Dennis Barry Gillings (born 25 April 1944) is an USA-based British billionaire statistician and entrepreneur, the founder and former chairman of Quintiles Transnational, a clinical research company, headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.

Early life Gillings was born on 25 April 1944 in London, the son of a fishmonger. He earned a BSc degree in 1966 and a PhD in 1972, both in mathematics, from the University of Exeter. He also earned the equivalent of a master's degree in mathematical statistics from the University of Cambridge.

Career He returned to the University of Exeter, where he taught while earning his doctorate in mathematics. In 1971, Gillings accepted a position to teach biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Gillings is the founder and former chairman of Quintiles, a contract research organization. In 1994, he took Quintiles public through an IPO.

In 1998, he endowed the Dennis Gillings Professor of Health Management at the University of Cambridge.

Honours In 2001, he received an Honorary DSc degree from the University of Exeter.

Personal life In 2010, Gillings filed for divorce from his first wife, Joan Gillings (1946-2021), shortly before their 32nd wedding anniversary. In 2012, he married Mireille Gingras in Hawaii.