We are delighted to announce the results of the competition which are as follows:
The committee was very pleased with the high number and quality of the abstracts submitted for this year's Forum.
2008 Keynote speakers
Opening Plenary
"Partners in Clime" - Working together for human and planetary health
Chair:
Prof David Hunter, Chair, UKPHA
Tony Juniper, Director, Friends of the Earth
Tony Juniper is director of Friends of the Earth and vice chair of Friends of the Earth International. His environmental work spans more than 20 years; he has been a leading figure in many of the main environmental campaigns of recent times, including the anti-road building protests of the 1990s and the mobilisation against GM crops and foods. His present focus is climate change. Tony is a naturalist, ornithologist and recognised expert on parrots. He is the author of 'How many lightbulbs does it take to change a planet? 95 ways to save planet Earth', published by Quercus in 2007.
Sir Martin Doughty, Chair, Natural England
Following a career as a lecturer in Environmental Management at Sheffield Hallam University, Martin, from Derbyshire, developed his expertise and interest in nature conservation alongside landscape and access work as Chair, The Peak District National Park Authority. He has held a wide range of key roles in the public and voluntary sectors, including Leader of Derbyshire County Council from 1992 until 2001. Martin has also been a Board Member for the Countryside Agency (1999 - 2005) and was the Chair of English Nature before being appointed as Chair for Natural England.
He was knighted in 2001 for services to local government in Derbyshire and he received Honorary Doctorates from Sheffield Hallam University in 2002, Cranfield University in 2005 and Derby University in 2006.
Paul Cosford, Regional Director of Public Health for the East of England and RDPH lead for sustainable development in the NHS
Dr Paul Cosford is the Regional Director of Public Health for the East of England, leading the public health and medical advice functions within the Strategic Health Authority and the Government Office. He is responsible for the oversight of population health improvement, reducing health inequalities, health protection and emergency planning, as well as professional leadership, clinical quality and patient safety.
Paul has a particular interest in climate change and sustainable development, and has established the new NHS Sustainable Development Unit based in the East of England on behalf of the ten English Strategic Health Authorities. The main aim of the unit is to support the NHS move from examples of excellent practice to a comprehensive and systematic approach to sustainability across the country, so it genuinely becomes the leading public sector organisation in addressing the challenge of climate change.
Plenary 2
Chair:
Dr Deborah Klein Walker, EdD, President of the American Public Health Association (APHA)
APHA is the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world, representing more than 50,000 members from over 50 public health occupations. Dr. Walker's extensive involvement with APHA since 1979 includes four years of service on its executive board and chair of the Maternal and Child Health Section, in addition to numerous other posts.
"Our greatest challenge is to foster the political will to use the evidence we already have and can develop, and the social strategies we know are necessary to make positive improvements in the health of the public," Dr. Walker observed. "APHA must be a leader in facing these challenges in the new century." The organization's major advocacy and education priorities include increasing access to health care, reducing health disparities, and supporting improvements in the public health infrastructure, especially emergency preparedness.
Dr. Walker has more than 30 years of wide-ranging public health experience, including 15 years with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where she specialized in child and family health promotion and substance abuse services. She served in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and retains a position on the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a nationally respected expert in child development, community programs, and public health.
Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo MP, Minister of State for Public Health, the Department of Health
Dawn Primarolo was appointed Minister of State for Public Health at the Department of Health in July 2007. In this role, she has responsibility for health improvement and health protection issues including such areas as tobacco, obesity, drugs and sexual health, as well as international business, pharmacy and research and development.
Prior to her appointment at the Department of Health, Dawn spent ten years at the Treasury; first as Financial Secretary (1997-1999) and subsequently as Paymaster General, responsible for oversight of taxation as a whole. Prior to 1997, Dawn held two posts in Opposition, as front bench spokesperson on health (1992-1994) and Treasury and economic affairs (1994-1997).
Dawn has lived in Bristol since the late 1970s, and after a period as a member of Avon County Council, she was elected as Member of Parliament for Bristol South in 1987.
Dawn was educated at Thomas Bennett Comprehensive in Crawley, Bristol Polytechnic and Bristol University, where she gained a BA (Hons) degree in Social Science and conducted PhD research into women and housing.
Dawn is married with one son. Away from her parliamentary and Ministerial responsibilities, she enjoys gardening, cooking, cinema and opera.
Plenary 3
Beyond the nanny state - stewardship and public health
Chair:
Dr Fiona Adshead, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health for England
Dr Adshead is the Deputy Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Health for England who has responsibility for the health improvement agenda. She leads on developing national policy and programmes in key public health areas and works with colleagues across government on developing healthy public policy. Specific areas that
She leads on include: Tackling inequalities in health, addressing the social determinants of health, the prevention of cancer and heart disease, tobacco control, substance misuse, sexual health and nutrition.
Dr Adshead has an extensive international portfolio and has close links with the WHO and the European Commission. Through this work, she is able to bring learning into England and to export expertise.
Her interest in sharing good practice and developing the evidence for health improvement is also reflected in her extensive list of publications and she is regularly invited to speak at national and international events.
She is a visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Prof Sir Ken Calman, Chancellor of the University of Glasgow
Professor Sir Ken Calman is Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, and a former member of both the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and its Working Party on Public Health. He has previously held appointments as Chief Medical Officer for Scotland and for England, as Chairman of the WHO Executive Board, and as Vice-Chancellor of Durham University.
Closing Plenary
From the Health of Towns in 1843 to Healthy Cities 2008
Chair:
Dr Ruth Hussey, Regional Director of Public Health, NHS North West
Ruth is the Regional Director of Public Health/Medical Director at NHS North West. She is also seconded into the Department of Health and leads the DH function in the region, co-located with other Government Departments in Government Office North West.
Previously, Ruth held the posts of Director of Health Strategy/Medical Director at Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority (April 2002 - July 2006) and between November 2005 and June 2006, Ruth was also the Acting Director of Public Health /Medical Director at Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority.
Prior to this Ruth held the post of Director of Public Health for Liverpool (1991 - 2002).
Prof John Ashton, CBE, Director of Public Health and County Medical Officer, Cumbria
John Ashton was born in Liverpool and has spent most of his professional life based there whilst working across the North West. He has always striven to connect academic and service Public Health with political and social action for health improvement. John is best known for his work on family planning and abortion services, Healthy Cities, and the New Public Health. Having spent 13 years as Regional Director of Public Health for the North West, John retired from the Civil Service in 2006. In 2007 he took up a new position as Director of Public Health and County Medical Officer for Cumbria. He divides his time between Cumbria and Liverpool where he shares his life with Director of Public Health for Central Lancashire, Maggi Morris, and their young son, Che.
John was a founder member of the UKPHA and was instrumental in the establishment of a North West Public Health Association.
Plenary +1 Workshop (A2)
Public Health - fuelling or fighting climate change?
Chair:
Dr Paul Cosford, Regional Director of Public Health for the East of England and RDPH lead for sustainable development in the NHS & Sir Martin Doughty, Chair, Natural England
Prof Gabriel Scally, Regional Director of Public Health, Department of Health (left)
Dr David Pencheon, Director of NHS Sustainable Development Unit (right)
This high level workshop followed the Opening Plenary presentation: "Partners in Clime- Working together for human and planetary health". Co-Chaired by Dr Paul Cosford, RDPH for the East of England and RDPH lead for sustainable development in the NHS and Sir Martin Doughty, Chair, Natural England. Prof Gabriel Scally, Regional Director of Public of Health, Department of Health and Dr David Pencheon, Director of NHS Sustainable Development Unit, shared hands-on practical guidance on what is being done, and what we as individuals can do, to bring about the changes that we seek.
This workshop focused on the practical steps necessary to equip the public health workforce, across all sectors, to bring about the changes needed to achieve a reduced carbon footprint for the NHS, and the collaborative joined up working essential to delivering healthy sustainable communities.
The Annual Public Health Forum has been one of the main platforms on which the UKPHA has developed and expanded its work on health and sustainable development. Following on from the 14th Annual Public Health Forum in Telford during which there was a strong focus on health and the natural and built environment and on the urgent need to unite the health and sustainable development agendas, the UKPHA held a national Think Tank in February 2007 leading to the National Symposium on Health & Sustainable Development at the15th Annual Public Forum in Edinburgh in March 2007. This in-depth work has led to the development of the Health & Sustainable Development Action Group which is now very active in taking forward the priorities of the Climates & Change programme which was agreed at the National Symposium.
The 16th Annual Public Health Forum built upon this work particularly in respect of making the links between grassroots activity and local and national decision making around these critical issues of our time. Clearly climate change and sustainable development are areas where informed individual choice and societal and political action are vital to ensuring a healthy and sustainable future.
The Annual Public health Forums of 2005, 2006 and 2007 each had a strong arts and health theme starting with the dramatic arts in the Sage Gateshead, dance and movement at Telford and voice and song in Edinburgh.
The poster competition, sponsored by Earthscan, was a real success this year with an high number of votes received and a very high standard of posters produced. So thank you to all delegates who voted for this important competition which showcases projects and initiatives from across the whole of the UK and beyond.
Since 2005 the UKPHA has been working to reduce the carbon footprint of the Annual Public Health Forum year on year. Sustainable conferencing will be key to ensuring that these vital opportunities to come together and share and develop ideas and learning survive into the future.
