Alan Maryon-Davis [1] (born January 1943), is a British doctor turned public health specialist. He is the Honorary Professor of Public Health at King's College London, chair of the Public Health Advisory Committee of NICE of the UK Department of Health (2013-?), president of the Faculty of Public Health (2007–10), and the inaugural chair of the Royal Society for Public Health (2008-?).
He was born in Chiswick, West London, and was educated at St Paul's School, London, St John's College, Cambridge, and St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, King's College London.
Following an early career in hospital medicine and general practice, he transferred to the field of public health with a focus on health promotion and prevention. He was Head of Health Sciences at the Health Education Council (a national non-government organization based in London) and a member of various UK Department of Health committees and task forces on nutrition, physical activity, cancer prevention, accident prevention, and health partnerships. In the mid-1980s he co-founded the National Forum for Coronary Heart Disease Prevention (which became the National Heart Forum and then the UK Health Forum) and, in collaboration with the Welsh Office, the Welsh heart disease prevention programme Heart Beat Wales.
In 1988, he switched to working at the local level as a public health specialist in inner south London, most recently as Director of Public Health for Southwark Primary Care Trust (2002–07). [2] a role he combined with a part-time senior lectureship in public health at King's College London, contributing to the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes. On retirement from the NHS in 2007 he was granted an honorary professorship in public health at King's.
As well as his local role, Maryon-Davis has continued to play a part at a national level. He was elected Chair of the Royal Institute of Public Health in 2006 and instigated its merger with the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health to form the Royal Society for Public Health in 2008, becoming the new organisation's inaugural chair. [3] He was also elected as president of the Faculty of Public Health (2007–10) and focused on championing and expanding the Faculty’s policy and advocacy function with a particular emphasis on childhood obesity, mental health, and the health consequences of climate change. Maryon-Davis currently chairs the Public Health Advisory Committee for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence developing a series of guidelines on effective interventions for tackling such issues as oral health, indoor air quality, and mental well-being at work (2013- ).
His charity roles, running in parallel with the above, have included: trustee of Medicine, putting cinemas in hospitals around the UK (1998–2018); chair of the parents' and babies' charity Best Beginnings (2011–16); chair of Alcohol Research UK (2014–18), overseeing its merger with Alcohol Concern to form the new charity Alcohol Change, becoming its first chair (2018–19); and chair of Medact, which campaigns for health, social and climate justice (2019- ). He also chairs Nadder Community Energy, a community benefit society promoting renewable energy generation and use in Wiltshire (2020- ).
Maryon-Davis was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours 2021 for services to Public Health.
Alan Maryon-Davis has also been a prolific writer and broadcaster on health matters in a parallel career spanning over 40 years. His broadcasting began as a regular guest doctor on the London independent radio station LBC in the mid-1970s. He then became the BBC Radio 1 'Doc' in a regular slot called Stayin' Alive with DJ David ('Kid') Jensen. In the 1980s he presented a number of series on health for BBC Radio 4 and was a co-presenter, with doctors Graeme Garden and Gillian Rice, of BBC1's popular medical series Bodymatters. Most recently he has made numerous appearances on national radio and TV commenting on the COVID-19 pandemic.
His journalism has included a wide range of outlets. He wrote a weekly 'Dear Dr. Alan' Q&A column in Woman magazine for 17 years and has written ten books on various health subjects for the general reader. He was formerly editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine Public Health Today and vice-chair of the Medical Journalists' Association (2010–11).
His third career has been as a member of the comedy singing group Instant Sunshine since its foundation in 1966. [4]
The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1518, as the College of Physicians, the RCP is the oldest medical college in England.
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The institution was founded in 1899 by Sir Patrick Manson, after a donation from the Indian Parsi philanthropist B. D. Petit.
Nicholas David Ross is an English radio and television presenter. During the 1980s and 1990s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters but is best known for hosting the BBC Television programme Crimewatch, which he left in 2007 after 23 years. He has subsequently filmed a series for BBC One called The Truth About Crime and has made documentaries for BBC Radio 4. He is chairman, president, trustee or patron of a number of charities including the National Fire Chiefs Council, and is President of the British Security Industry Association and HealthSense.
The Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA) is a coalition of more than 60 non-governmental organisations which work together to promote evidence-based policies to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.
Sir Steven George West is a British podiatrist, the vice-chancellor, president and chief executive officer of the University of the West of England since 2008. He holds a number of national and international advisory appointments in higher education, healthcare policy and regional government.
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, also known as SLaM, is an NHS foundation trust based in London, England, which specialises in mental health. It comprises four psychiatric hospitals, the Ladywell Unit based at University Hospital Lewisham, and over 100 community sites and 300 clinical teams. SLaM forms part of the institutions that make up King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) is the coordinating body for the United Kingdom and Ireland's 24 Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties. It ensures that patients are safely and properly cared for by setting standards for the way doctors are educated, trained and monitored throughout their careers. The Academy Council meet regularly to agree direction. The Council comprises the Presidents of the member Colleges and Faculties and four coopted council members.
Michael David Dixon, (Hon) is an English general practitioner and current Head of the Royal Medical Household. He is Chair of The College of Medicine and Integrated Health and Visiting Professor at the University of Westminster.
Sir Andrew Paul Haines, FMedSci is a British epidemiologist and academic. He was the Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine from 2001 to 2010.
K. Srinath Reddy is an Indian physician and the Former President of the Public Health Foundation of India and formerly headed the Department of Cardiology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Professor Kevin Andrew Fenton, is a Public Health Physician and Infectious Disease Epidemiologist. He is the London Regional Director at Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Regional Public Health Director at NHS London and the Statutory Health Advisor to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. He is the current President of the United Kingdom Faculty of Public Health and holds Honourable Professorships with the University College London and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is the 2024/25 President of the British Science Association.
Dinesh Kumar Makhan Lal Bhugra is a professor of mental health and diversity at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London. He is an honorary consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and is former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Bhugra was the president of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) between 2014 and 2017 and the President of the British Medical Association in 2018-2019.
Sir Terence John Stephenson, is a Northern Irish consultant paediatric doctor and chair of the Health Research Authority (HRA). He is also the Nuffield Professor of Child Health at University College London (UCL). Stephenson was most notable for guiding the RCPCH in agreeing 10 published national standards, Facing the Future: Standards for Paediatric Services. This was the first time the College committed publicly to a defined set of standards for all children receiving inpatient care or assessment across the UK.
Paul Kieran Whelton is an Irish-born American physician and scientist who has contributed to the fields of hypertension and kidney disease epidemiology. He also mentored several public health leaders including the deans of the schools of public health at Johns Hopkins and Columbia. He currently serves as the Show Chwan Health Care System Endowed Chair in Global Public Health and a Clinical Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He is the founding director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins University.
Dr Allan Johnston MBBS, MRCPsych, Cert.Med.Ed(IU) is a consultant psychiatrist with the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, working at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and a world leading Sports Psychiatrist at Spire Leeds Hospital working with professional athletes, dance artists, Premiership and Football League managers and coaches.
Jonathan P Shepherd CBE FRCS FFPH FRCPsych FMedSci FLSW is a Welsh surgeon, criminologist and professor at Cardiff University's Crime and Security Research Institute which he co-founded in 2015. He also founded the University's Violence Research Group. He has initiated UK public service reforms and other measures to strengthen the evidence foundations on which these services are based. These include new professional bodies for policing, probation and teaching; the UK What Works Centres and What Works Council; new university police research centres in England and Wales; and a new police research funding scheme.
Linda Caroline Bauld is the Bruce and John Usher Chair of Public Health in The Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh and Chief Social Policy Advisor to the Scottish government.
Jason Andrew Leitch is the National Clinical Director of Healthcare Quality and Strategy for the Scottish Government. He is a Senior Clinical Advisor to the Scottish Government and a member of the Health and Social Care Management Board. Leitch was involved in the COVID-19 pandemic response, where his duties included communicating complex scientific information to the public.
John Norman Newton is a British epidemiologist and public health expert. He is the Director of Health Improvement at Public Health England, and from 2020 coordinates the UK Government's COVID-19 testing programme.
The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and those for 2023 were announced on 30 December 2022.