Professor Vaughan is currently a Consultant Cardiologist at the Mercy University/Cork University Hospital in Cork. He earned his medical degree from University College Cork in 1989 and did his early medical training in Cork. He then began training in Cardiology in Cork and pursued an MD degree in University College Cork before moving for further training to Cornell Medical Centre in New York in 1996. There he pursued fellowship training in Cardiology and participated in research on the molecular genetic basis of cardiovascular disease. He joined the faculty at Cornell Medical Centre in 2001 and returned to Cork in 2004. Prof Vaughan has published widely on many aspects of cardiovascular disease including studies on the molecular genetic basis of inherited heart disease and dyslipidaemia.