Gilles Rioufol studied medicine in Lyon, France, and graduated from the Lyon Faculty of Medicine. He received his MD in 1996 and a PhD in preconditioning and myocardial protection from the Claude Bernard University of Lyon in 2000. His main center of interest is coronary atherothrombosis, with a focus on intravascular ultrasound imaging. He worked with Pr Gérard Finet to highlight the concept of pancoronary inflammation in acute coronary syndrome, and is now focusing on the concept of vulnerable plaque and the biomechanics of plaque rupture.