Derek Connelly is a Consultant Cardiologist with an interest in electrophysiology and devices at the West of Scotland Regional Heart & Lung Centre, Golden Jubilee National Hospital, and at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He is an Honorary Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Glasgow.

He qualified in medicine at the University of Glasgow in 1984. After early training in medicine and cardiology in Glasgow, he moved to the Royal Brompton Hospital, London in 1989 for a research post in cardiac electrophysiology. He then moved to the Cardiothoracic Centre – Liverpool in 1992 as senior registrar in cardiology. He was appointed senior lecturer and consultant cardiologist there in 1997, and moved back to a consultant cardiologist post in Glasgow in 2004.