Abdul Razzaq is Joint Director of Public Health at NHS Trafford and is a joint appointment with Trafford MBC since 2003. Abdul is a Board Member of NHS Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group, a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and the North West Executive Lead for the national Association of Directors of Public Health.

He has worked in public health for the last 17 years in several NHS organisations (health authorities and primary care trusts) across the North West. His experience ranges from major service strategy and healthcare system reform to community development for disadvantaged communities in numerous towns and cities.

Public Health Trafford has taken an innovative and pioneering approach with a joint post with the council to tackle food and health issues with the introduction of a Food Network to tackle obesity. The network has successfully introduced a Healthy Choices Award for workplace and hospital canteens, restaurants, takeaway outlets, sandwich bars, pubs, hotels and community cafes. The Food Network is also proactively lobbying with associated networks for the introduction of evidence-based interventions such as the use of price and availability of sugar sweetened beverages and stronger regulation of the food industry to improve and protect the public's health.

At Greater Manchester level Abdul leads on liver disease, Hepatitis C programme and public health Intelligence.


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Philip James is medically and scientifically qualified with extensive experience working globally on nutrition and public health issues. After 10 years of clinical practice and research on obesity with the MRC in Cambridge, he directed the Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen for 17 years and founded the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), responsible for drafting the first World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Report (2000) on the prevention and management of obesity.

Philip created the blueprint for the UK's Food Standards Agency for Tony Blair, and was involved in the formation of the EU's DG SANCO. He served on the top EU scientific steering committee and was instrumental in establishing the EU's Food Authority.

In addition to his Presidency of IASO, Philip works extensively with WHO on new prevention and management strategies for obesity and its complications in many parts of the world.

Presentation: Supporting healthier lifestyles, building local capability

The current UK government has rejected the national and international evidence that major national initiatives should be a priority in obesity prevention. So we now need to build on a host of international evidence, where local initiatives have to substitute central government ones dominated by commercial interests.

Bloomberg in New York clearly understands the crucial need for strategic changes in the food chain, rather than relying solely on individual choice when there are no triggers helping people choose sensibly. Key factors affecting food intake – large serving sizes, the inappropriate foods served, the manipulation of local prices and availability and food marketing – are targeted.

In pre-NHS days the chief medical officer of the city/town was the most important policy controller after the mayor/chair of the council. Major new opportunities now arise for integrating healthcare with local food and activity arrangements. Exclusions of all soft drinks/junk food from any publicly funded/supported institution plus a range of other civil interactive measures involving deprived communities should be started now.

The new Neighbourhood Forum planning policies just enacted allow for more incisive medical leverage on the built environment. Local health needs in relation to future burdens of care also justify a high-profile role for public health if councils are now pushed to recognise their opportunities and responsibilities.

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Professor Mike Kelly is Director of the Centre of Public Health Excellence at NICE where he leads on the development of public health guidance.

Mike holds honorary academic positions at the Universities of Cambridge, Manchester, Sheffield, Salford, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and City University. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

Mike's research interests are in evidence-based approaches to health improvement. From 2005-2008 he was the co-leader of the Measurement and Evidence Knowledge Network of the World Health Organization's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. He has published more than 200 papers in medical, social scientific and public health journals and is author/editor of seven books. In 2010, he was awarded the Alwyn Smith Prize of the Faculty of Public Health for his work on cardiovascular disease and alcohol misuse prevention.

Presentation: Obesity and health inequalities: is a new approach needed?

The prevalence of obesity in adults and children has risen substantially over the past 30 years with previous interventions doing little to buck the upward trend of obesity levels. Research has shown that income, ethnicity and social deprivation all have an important impact on the likelihood of becoming obese. Is a new approach required to tackle health inequalities more effectively, to diagnose obesity at an earlier stage and to develop the best solutions that can halt predicted trends? Is it time for a new approach to obesity prevention?

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Richard Cienciala has been Deputy Director for Health and Wellbeing in the Department of Health for England since March 2010. His responsibilities include policy on obesity, the NHS Health Check and National Child Measurement programmes, all food related work in the Public Health Responsibility Deal, and nutritional labelling.

Richard's background is in the Department of Health where he has been closely involved with a range of key policy development and delivery initiatives.

Presentation: The government's vision for tackling obesity

• National ambitions for overweight and obesity
• Key principles of the government's approach
• Progress since Healthy Lives, Healthy People : A call to action to obesity in England
• The role of the centre - key initiatives
• Supporting local areas

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Simon trained in general, respiratory and cardiovascular medicine in Newcastle, Cardiff, and Oxford, then in public health in Edinburgh and Glasgow . Appointed as the first Professor of Clinical Epidemiology in the University of Liverpool in 1999.

Simon manages a research programme mainly involving cardiovascular disease (CVD) and food policy. Joint funding totalling over £20 million, with over two hundred & fifty peer-reviewed papers, many in top journals.

His recent research work includes MRC, NIHR and EU funded programmes examining:
• why CVD death rates have recently halved in the UK, USA , Poland & elsewhere, and why CVD rates are increasing in China and many other developing countries, and
• the development of effective and cost-saving cardiovascular prevention strategies: building on empirical evidence, policy analyses, and quantitative modelling in high middle and low income countries.

Simon is a Trustee for the UK National Heart Forum, and for Heart of Mersey, a large regional CVD primary prevention charity. He contributes to policy development and service work, and has recently chaired/participated in a dozen national /international committees (including Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, British Heart Foundation, NICE, UK Faculty of Public Health, the European Society of Cardiology and WHO).

Presentation: The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges Obesity Report

• The AoMRC represents over 200,000 doctors.
• The Obesity Report summarises a years work reviewing evidence and responses from over 100 organisations & respondents
• Current actions to address obesity are clearly insufficient: the epidemic crisis is already costing the NHS over £5billion per year, and rising
• The AoMRC make 10 evidence-based recommendations around improving clinical services, training and food in schools & hospitals.
Also crucially, a 20% tax on sugary drinks, and a ban on junk food & sugary drink advertising before the 9pm watershed.

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Hilary Cass is a Consultant in Paediatric Disability at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. She runs a national service for children with Rett syndrome and has published widely in this area. Her other research interests include developmental regression and autistic spectrum disorders.

Hilary has held senior management roles in hospital trusts. At a national level she has been involved in medical education and policy development, as well as advancing new models of paediatric care.

Hilary is passionate about leadership development for young doctors and has been involved in running leadership programmes across London.

Presentation: Tackling childhood obesity

Levels of overweight and obesity among children in England is high, affecting a third of all 10-11 year olds and almost a quarter of 4-5 year olds. How can a holistic approach to treatment and solutions can improve young lives and improve outcomes?

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Jan Courtney has been the Lead for Children's Health and Wellbeing in Gloucestershire since 2011. As a result of the ending of the national Healthy Schools Programme she set out to develop a programme to meet the needs of Gloucestershire children. Together with a team of seconded teachers 'Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning' was developed.

Prior to this Jan worked as an independent consultant and a consultant with the Gloucestershire Healthy Schools Team. Jan enjoyed a long career as a secondary school teacher, where amongst other things she was a pastoral head and an Advanced Skills Teacher for PSHE and Citizenship .
Jan has provided consultancy and training locally, nationally and internationally. She has co-authored resources for use in the classroom.

Presentation: Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning Programme

Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning is a unique accreditation scheme informed directly by the voices of 70,000 children via the Gloucestershire Online Pupil Survey . Launched in July 2012, Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning provides both universal support for all schools in Gloucestershire (over 300 schools)and enables targeting of resources to the schools and children who need it most.
• A creative response to children's health and wellbeing in cash -strapped times
• Using the voice of children and young people to develop and commission services
• SMART working to balance universal provision with targeted need
• Measuring the impact of work in schools against Public Health Outcomes

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David Herne has worked in the public health arena for over 20 years. Since leaving the teaching profession in the early Eighties, he has worked in environmental health and the Strategic Policy Unit of a metropolitan authority before joining the NHS to lead a local Health Promotion Unit.

David trained to become a public health consultant and spent many years working in Lancashire before moving to Salford and his current role as Deputy Director of Public Health. His team has been based in the local authority for over a year now and has successfully integrated its work into the city council's structures.

When he can focus on the day job and not the transition of public health into the local authority, David leads on a number of areas of health inequalities. He has been responsible for many of the investment programmes in recent years, resulting in improvements in alcohol, weight management and tobacco services and a recently commissioned £1m investment in a new Level 2 Wellbeing Service.

Presentation: Local leadership, local action, local views

What do local people tell us about the challenges of living healthy lives and how can this shape the types of response we develop? What does whole system change look like to narrow the life expectancy gap in a district like Salford? The complex public health challenge for local government.

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David Haslam is a full-time GP with a special interest in obesity and cardiometabolic disease, Physician in Obesity Management, Luton & Dunstable Hospital, and Chair of the National Obesity Forum (NOF). The NOF is a charity whose aim is to increase awareness of obesity, diabetes and weight related illness, and improve their management. It provides educational material for clinicians, and also sits upon the Department of Health Obesity Strategy Review Group.

David is Visiting Professor, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Visiting Professor, Chester University, and is the Obesity Specialist at 76 Harley St. He is a board member of Experts on Severe and Complex Obesity (ESCO) and of the charity Foundations, a director of PCOS UK, a member of the Counterweight Board, and a visiting lecturer at Beds & Herts Postgraduate Medical School.

David has articles widely published in journals and papers and speaks internationally on obesity and related diseases. His books include 'Fat, Gluttony and Sloth: Obesity in Literature, Art and Medicine' and 'The Obesity Epidemic and Its Management', both 2010.

Presentation: Interventions: Is anything working?

Discussing the actions that can have the biggest impact on tackling obesity and deliver real value for money

How do we address the gaps and weaknesses in previous efforts to tackle obesity levels? What types of intervention and prevention strategies deliver the best outcomes and provide value for money? From fat tax to calorie reduction programmes, this talk will explore how we can enable service providers to develop new approaches to prevent obesity and treat those with existing weight problems.

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Shahrad Taheri is Senior Lecturer in Medicine, Diabetes and Endocrinology at the University of Birmingham. He is also a consultant physician at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust where he is lead for weight management. He also has a lead role within the Birmingham and Black Country NIHR CLAHRC (implementation of effective community care for diabetes).

Shahrad qualified in medicine from Barts, London University. He trained in diabetes and endocrinology at Barts, the Hammersmith Hospital, and Bristol Royal Infirmary. He obtained his PhD as a Wellcome Trust research fellow in neuroendocrinology at Imperial College, London, where his research focused on the hypothalamic function. This was followed by postdoctoral research at Stanford University. He returned to the UK in 2003 as a lecturer at Bristol University.

Shahrad is passionate about the care of patients with obesity and diabetes. He has had several national and international awards for his research and is a reviewer for several journals and funding bodies. His research ranges from basic laboratory to population research and service delivery reorganisation.

Presentation: Type 2 diabetes - are we barking up the wrong tree?

Type 2 diabetes is one of the greatest challenges for the NHS and society as a whole. Its prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate largely driven by the increasing prevalence of obesity. The medical model of diabetes treatment aims to reduce its macrovascular (ischaemic heart disease and stroke) and microvascular (retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy) complications. The talk will discuss type 2 diabetes and its progression and how we are succeeding in its treatment. The talk will challenge some of our current understanding of diabetes and make suggestions regarding how we may approach this problem in the future.

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Steven Pleasant is Chief Executive at Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. He has an MSc from Cranfield Institute of Technology and in his early career worked as a town planner after graduating as a Master of Civic Design from Liverpool University. He has spent much of his local government career managing corporate services. He was originally appointed Head of Policy at Tameside.

Steven has been involved in mentoring with a range of councils on such issues as performance management, local strategic partnerships, area assemblies, the operation of scrutiny and local public area agreements. He performed a lead role in six successful Beacon awards.

In March 2010, Steven led the organisation working with its partners in being awarded the 'Local Innovation Award for Building Economic Resilience', the only local authority in the country to receive this award. The award recognises the particularly strong partnership with the third sector and engagement with communities, which is supported by a comprehensive delivery strategy. The work also demonstrates outstanding business and community involvement that has proved to be extremely proactive in dealing with the recession issues in the locality.

Steven was Lead Officer for the North West Centre of Excellence for three years and took a leading role in the development of the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (RIEP). He is the chair of iNetwork (formerly NWeGG), which has been successfully supporting public service improvement and transformation across the North West region for the last nine years. He is also the lead Chief Executive, on behalf of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, on Health.

More recently, Steven has a lead role in public service reform and the development of the Whole Place Community Budget programme on behalf of Greater Manchester.


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Barbara Gallani, as Director of Food Safety and Science of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), is responsible for the development, implementation and promotion of FDF's policy with respect to scientific, technical and regulatory issues. This involves the evaluation of relevant policies developed by UK, European and international institutions and the representation of FDF's positions in discussions with government officials, parliamentary committees, European and UK organisations and media.

Barbara is also responsible for FDF's work in the health and wellbeing field, working with manufacturers and policymakers in areas including nutrition labeling, reformulation, healthier choices, responsible marketing and workplace wellbeing.


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Stewart Kellett has over 20 years' experience in the local government sector, with roles spanning sport, physical activity, parks and open spaces, major events, contracting, planning and regeneration and a senior role on local authority management teams. Employers have included Preston, South Ribble, East Devon, Bristol and Hyndburn Councils. In more recent years Stewart has been CEO of Lancashire Sport and Director of Sport England North West, playing a leading role in driving up activity levels and sports participation in the region. His formal training has included a DMS (Exeter) and an MBA (Hull).

In June 2009 Stewart joined British Cycling as the Director of the new Recreation and Partnerships Department, a role making him accountable for managing the Sky relationship and the delivery of the Sky Ride campaign across all the entry level cycling activity. This behavioural change campaign succeeded like no other activity in the UK, making cycling more accessible to a new audience, attracting over one million more people to get on a bike.

Outside work Stewart participates in a range of sports. A former county badminton player and coach, he now cycles regularly – completing epic rides like Lands End to John O' Groats, L'Etape du Tour and La Marmotte as personal challenges and for charity fund raising. Stewart spends a lot of time in the great outdoors with his wife Helen and three daughters Sophie, Grace and Hannah who, he says, help him recover from the pain of watching Blackburn Rovers.


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