Board of Trustees

Professor Sanjay Agrawal is a Consultant in Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. Treating tobacco dependency effectively in the NHS has been a key focus as well as wider tobacco control measures. Dr Agrawal chairs the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group.

Somen is Director of Public Health (DPH) at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. He is also co-chair of the London Association of the Directors of Public Health Network (ADPH) and DPH lead for tobacco for the London Network. He has worked in Tower Hamlets for over ten years. He completed his public health training in Oxford where he gained experience working with the World Health Organisation, Department of Health, National Institute for Clinical Excellence, Public Health Observatories and the British Heart Foundation Academic Unit in Oxford University.

Paul Burstow holds a number of non-executive leadership roles across the health and social care sector including the Independent Chair at Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care System, Chair of St Andrew’s Healthcare, a charity providing specialist mental healthcare for patients with complex mental health needs, Chair of the independent charity SCIE (The Social Care Institute for Excellence) and combines his interests in social care with an interest in technology enabled care (TEC) as President of the TEC Services Association. Paul's interests in mental health saw him appointed Chair of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust where he is involved in promoting the Trust’s work in developing and deploying new models of children and young people’s mental health and new approaches to workplace resilience.

Alison Cox is Director for Policy and Research at the Global Climate and Health Alliance. Alison is also President of the Smokefree Partnership. Having begun her career with environmental campaigning organisations including Greenpeace International, Alison went on to lead strategy development and direct advocacy for global public health alliances: for the Framework Convention Alliance, bringing the civil society to voice to the WHO treaty on tobacco control; and for the Non-Communicable Disease Alliance working to increase the integration of NCDs and their risk factors into the global development agenda. As Prevention Director at Cancer Research UK, she led successful campaigns for restrictions on tobacco and junk food marketing, and built an international programme to support tobacco control advocacy in LMICs.

Kate Harrison is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the ICAEW. She has worked in charity finance since 2007 and is currently a Finance Business Partner at the British Heart Foundation.

Professor Nicholas Hopkinson is a Reader in Respiratory Medicine & Honorary Consultant Physician at The National Heart and Lung Institute of Imperial College and the Royal Brompton Hospital where he runs the Advanced COPD service. His research focuses on addressing exercise and activity limitation in COPD in areas including pulmonary physiology and lung volume reduction, skeletal muscle impairment and pulmonary rehabilitation. He chairs the British Thoracic Society COPD Specialist Advisory Group and is also active in tobacco control advocacy. He trained at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and The London Hospital Medical School and subsequently at St George’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals.

Jonathan has a wealth of experience in public health at a local and national level. He was Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Devolution in the London Borough of Hackney, Chair of Hackney’s Health and Wellbeing Board and represented the Local Government Association on public health issues for many years. He currently chairs a number of national public health committees and advises NHS organisations and councils on all aspects of health and social care. He is also Chair of the Terrence Higgins Trust and a trustee of the Shoreditch Town Hall Trust.

Debbie is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London. Her current role involves the development, implementation and evaluation of tobacco dependence treatment initiatives for people with a mental health condition and/ or substance use disorder who smoke.

Dr Helen Walters is Public Health Consultant Advisor to the Public Health Research Programme for NIHR working at the national coordinating centre in Southampton University. She focuses on the funding of research that is relevant to Public Health practice, particularly in local government. Helen brings extensive experience of coal-face Public Health practice having led the Health Team in the Mayor of London’s office for five years. Prior to this Helen was Director of Public Health for the City of Westminster, Consultant in Public Health in Portsmouth, has been a GP partner and served as an elected member in her district council. Helen is the Tobacco lead for the UK Faculty of Public Health and a trustee of St Mungo’s.