Brian Diffey is Emeritus Professor of Photobiology in Dermatological Sciences at Newcastle University. Prior to retiring from the NHS, he was Clinical Director and Professor of Medical Physics at Newcastle General Hospital.

Professor Diffey is an international authority on sun protection and amongst other things, invented the UVA Star Rating adopted by Boots and which remains the world's longest running measure of UVA protection for sunscreens.

Throughout his career, he devoted his clinical and research work to photodermatology, a subject that encompasses sciences as diverse as climatology through optical physics, photochemistry, and photobiology to clinical dermatology. His interests have been broad and have included the measurement of natural and artificial ultraviolet radiation, its effects in normal and diseased human skin and ways to minimise excessive exposure, especially through the use of sunscreens.

He is a prolific contributor to photodermatology and has written one book, as well as 60 invited chapters and more than 350 articles in the medical and scientific literature.