Ian completed his undergraduate studies in Medical Laboratory Science at the Queensland University of Technology. Between 1992 and 2015 Ian was a Research Assistant, PhD student and a post-doctoral virology research group leader at the Sir Albert Sakzewski Virus Research Centre, Queensland, Australia.
In 2015 Ian left research and moved to a Supervising Scientist role in virology, detecting and characterizing known, new, newly identified and rare viral threats to public and environmental health and then to a Supervise a new pathology laboratory. He retains an adjunct Associate Professor affiliation at The University of Queensland.