Prof Gibbons graduated from the University of Glasgow with an intercalated BSc (Hons) (1st Class) in Molecular Biology in 1995, and MB ChB in 1998. He undertook his basic medical training in Glasgow before moving to Edinburgh in 2001 to train in Respiratory Medicine. He was awarded an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship in 2007 to study mechanisms in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis; he was awarded his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2010. He trained in interstitial lung disease (ILD) in Edinburgh and has also spent time at the National Jewish ILD Program in Denver, US.
Prof Gibbons moved to Exeter in 2010 where he established and is currently the Clinical Director for the Regional NHSE Specialised Commissioned Exeter - South West Peninsula ILD Service. He is Lead of the Academic Respiratory Department of the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. He is Principal Investigator for multiple clinical trials (Phase 1-IV). Prof Gibbons is the Clinical Director of the Clinical Research Network: South West Peninsula. He is a past Chair of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) Specialist Advisory Group for Interstitial & Rare Lung Disease, a member of the BTS ILD Registry, BTS Science & Research Committee and BTS Council. He is a member of the European Respiratory Society, the American Thoracic Society, and the British Association for Lung Research.
Prof Gibbons is a Senior Investigator Fellow and co-supervises two PhD students – Emily Plumpton (with Dr Peter Cook & Professor Chris Scotton) and Ben Bowhay (with Dr Owen Tomlinson & Professor Chris Scotton). He also co-supervises an Exeter MRC Medical Mycology Centre Clinical PhD Fellow (Dr Matt Steward) and a Wellcome Trust GW4-CAT Clinical PhD Fellow (Dr Giles Dixon). He is the Chief Investigator of the CHORUS study, an NIHR HTA Funded Multi-Centre RCT (£2.3M) and co-investigator on the NIHR HTA funded MucACT COPD trial (£1.6M). He co-leads the Pulmonary Fibrosis Lung Sounds study and the STARSHIP study: A Study of Telomeres And role of Sex Hormones in Pulmonary Fibrosis.