Tackling Health Inequalities: Health is Wealth

Cormac Russell is the Founding Director of Nurture Development and a member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at DePaul University in Chicago.

Over the last 25 years, Cormac’s work has demonstrated an enduring impact in 35 countries around the world. He has trained communities, agencies, NGOs and governments in ABCD and other community-based approaches in Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe and North America.

His most recent books are The Connected Community- Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods (Coauthor John McKnight); Berrett-Koehler Publishers (2022,) and Rekindling Democracy – A Professional’s Guide to Working in Citizen Space; Cascade Books (2020).

Professor Bola Owolabi (MRCGP, MFPH Hon, FRSPH) is Director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme at NHS England (NHSE). Professor Owolabi works as a General Practitioner in the Midlands. Bola has particular interest in reducing healthcare inequalities through integrated care models, service transformation, and using data insights for quality improvement. She has spearheaded NHSE’s Core20PLUS5 approach to narrowing healthcare inequalities. Internationally, Bola was a member of the Danish Ambassador’s Tour De Health – a ten nation healthcare policy leaders’ summit. Additionally, she was the UK representative on the Commonwealth Fund / Academy Health Tour 2023, exploring equity in national health policy across the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. She was previously National Speciality Advisor for Older People and Integrated Person-Centred Care at NHSE, where she led the Anticipatory Care workstream of the National Ageing Well Programme. She collaborated with teams across NHSE and the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Covid-19 pandemic response.

Bola is an alumna of Ashridge Executive Education / Hult International Business School and holds a Masters degree with distinction in Leadership (Quality Improvement). She also received an NHS Leadership Academy Award in Executive Healthcare Leadership for Clinicians. Bola is an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Applied Health Research, College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Birmingham. She is also a Vice President of the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH).

Sally Warren is Director General, 10-year health plan, leading a joint DHSC and NHS England team. Prior to this, Sally was the Director of Policy for five years at The King’s Fund. Sally has over 20 years of experience working in health and care, with roles including Director for Social Care Policy at DHSC, Director of Programmes at Public Health England, Director of EU Exit Preparedness and Response at Defra and Deputy Chief Inspector at Care Quality Commission.

Professor Kevin Fenton CBE, President of the Faculty of Public Health, is an internationally recognised expert with over 25 years of experience in public health medicine, infectious disease epidemiology, and health equity. He currently holds dual roles as Regional Director for London in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and Regional Director of Public Health for NHS London. Professor Fenton also serves as the government's Chief Advisor for HIV, leading the implementation of the ambitious HIV Action Plan focused on eliminating new transmissions by 2030.

With a career spanning global, national, and local public health leadership, Professor Fenton brings a wealth of knowledge on tackling health inequalities, infectious disease control, the social determinants of health, and urban health. He is dedicated to promoting evidence-based, equitable, and sustainable public health practices.

Amit Aggarwal has over 14 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently at LEO Pharma as Medical Director for the UK and Ireland. Prior to that he spent over a decade at Bayer where he held various roles including pharmacovigilance, Global medical affairs, and latterly as Director of Medical Affairs UK for General Medicine.

His background is as a medic, spending 5 years working clinically in the NHS, mainly in secondary care. Amit has worked on both innovative and established product launches, spanning a range of therapy areas including oncology, women's health, cardiovascular medicine, dermatology and thrombosis in the UK and globally.

Amit holds a MA in Neuroscience from the University of Cambridge, and a MBBS from Guy’s, King’s & St Thomas’ School of Medicine. 

Professor Maggie Rae is former President of the Faculty of Public Health and current President of the RSM Epidemiology and Public Health Section.

A leading public-health expert, she runs the public-health training programme in the South West of England and works on programme development in the region.

Professor Rae has been working in public health for nearly 40 years and has worked in local, regional and national roles with different national agencies.

Professor Lucy Chappell is Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the UK’s largest health and care research funder. The Chief Scientific Adviser is responsible for DHSC research and development and supporting analysis and life sciences across the Department. Professor Chappell provides science advice to ministers across a range of health topics and is involved in cross-government science policy.  

Professor Chappell is also a Professor of Obstetrics at King’s College London, working mainly in clinical trials in pregnancy, and a practising Consultant Obstetrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.  

Dame Lesley Regan undertook much of her clinical training in Cambridge, where she was also a teaching fellow and Director of Studies in Medicine at Girton College. Subsequently, she assumed the role of a consultant and senior lecturer in obstetrics and gynaecology at St Mary’s Hospital, where she currently serves as the chair. Notably, she was one of the first women to hold a chair in obstetrics and gynaecology in the UK.

In 2016, Dame Lesley was elected as President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, becoming only the second woman to hold this role and the first in 64 years. During her three-year tenure, she advocated for a life course approach to women’s health and emphasised the significance of lifestyle improvements, such as tackling obesity, to ensure better pregnancy outcomes.

As the co-director of the UK’s Baby Bio Bank (BBB), a pregnancy tissue archive established in 2013 by University College London and Imperial College London with funding from Wellbeing of Women, Dame Lesley Regan actively contributes to advancing translational research on major complications of pregnancy. Her exemplary service to women's healthcare was recognised with the prestigious appointment of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2020. Additionally, in 2021, she was honoured with the Inspiration of the Year award by Hello! magazine.