Simon Yona was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He performed his PhD under the direction of Professor Rod Flower FRS and Professor Mauro Perretti at the William Harvey Research Institute, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital (University of London). After completing his PhD, he joined the laboratory of Professor Siamon Gordon FRS at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology (University of Oxford), studying adhesion-GPCRs in the context of macrophage and neutrophil signaling. In 2008, Simon received a FEBS Fellowship to work in the laboratory of Professor Steffen Jung at the Weizmann Institute of Science. His studies there focused on generating transgenic mice, in order to manipulate and fate map the mononuclear phagocyte system. To this end, he revealed the ontogeny and dynamics of circulating monocytes and resident macrophages under steady state. Furthermore, in collaboration with Professor Eli Keshet (Hebrew University), he demonstrated how Ly6C^hi monocytes undergo multiple transcriptional, phenotypic and functional changes endowing them with enhanced proangiogenic capabilities at sites of angiogenesis where they act as transient accessory cells. He returned to the United Kingdom and joined the Division of Medicine at University College London (University of London). Work in his lab aims at understanding human mononuclear phagocyte biology, specifically, the developmental profile and distinct functions of monocytes and monocyte-derived cells in health and disease.