McInnes is one of the leading figures in global research into rheumatoid arthritis. He is the Director of the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Glasgow. He is the President of the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR).

McInnes received The Carol Nachman prize for rheumatology in 2019 and was awarded a CBE for his services to medicine in 2018. For his “outstanding contribution to the field of immunology”, he was awarded the Sir James Black Prize Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2016.