Our team

Jill Belch FRCP MD OBE FR(E) FMedSci is a Professor of Vascular Medicine at the University of Dundee, where she was previously the Research Dean then Co-Dean of the Medical School. She was also NHS Tayside R&D Director for 10 years also to 2016. She established and became Co-Director of the Tayside Academic Health Partnership. She is a founder Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Science and a Fellow and Council Member of the Royal Society, Edinburgh. She is currently Head of the Institute of Cardiovascular Research. Her research interests centre on cardiovascular disease with especial reference to peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Her main current interest in the environment and climate change effects on health and is researching & publishing on environmental issues such as the effects of air pollution on disease requiring hospital admission, effects of air pollution on children, and investigating how protected our children are from pollution whilst at school.

Ranee Thakar MD FRCOG is the President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, a Consultant Obstetrician and Urogynaecologist at Croydon University Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer, St George’s University of London. Before taking up her role as President at the RCOG, she was Senior Vice President for Global Health from 2019-2022, overseeing the RCOG’s programmes to improve the health of women and girls globally. Ranee also has an impressive academic profile, with over 200 publications and has made a significant contribution to improving perineal trauma outcomes by training obstetricians and midwives to provide safer maternity care for women globally, and leads the national obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASI) Care Bundle Project. One of Ranee’s top three priorities as president is to work with the RCOG’s membership to bring about meaningful change in response to the climate crisis, particularly around making care more sustainable. Having played a leading role in the RCOG’s ongoing response to racial inequalities in the specialty, Ranee also recognises the importance of responding to the intersections between health inequity and the climate crisis. No conflicts of interest to declare.

Rodney is a registered nurse who possesses an MBA with a specialization in Health Care, along with additional qualifications in quality improvement and social and behavioural sciences. He currently serves as the Deputy Director of Nursing for Innovation and Sustainability at NHS England. In this national leadership capacity, he has played a pivotal role in developing a sustainability model for nursing and midwifery, establishing a national sustainability network for these professions, and developing a Net Zero clinical transformation programme specifically designed for nursing and midwifery. With over 38 years of experience in the NHS, Rodney has held various positions in Public Health, Commissioning, and Service Delivery. He is deeply dedicated to strategies that enhance population health and wellbeing, particularly in addressing social determinants of health, mitigating health inequalities, and leveraging enabling technologies to foster personal wellbeing and facilitate precision-based health care.

Eleanor has worked in Public Health for over 30 years and was in the first cohort of non-medics to train to be a Consultant in Public Health, She is based in Greater Manchester and has been a Director of Public Health in both the NHS and in a local authority (most recently, she was DPH for Trafford from 2016-2023) . She also worked for Sustrans (the walking and cycling charity) for a year. She is Deputy Chair of the Faculty of Public Health’s Climate and Health Committee. She has a particular interest in transport and health, and in ensuring that measures that reduce climate change also reduce health inequalities. She retired from full time employment in 2023 and is now undertaking a PhD on active travel.

Emma is a GP working in Tower Hamlets, East London. She has been working in the area for over 20 years and is fully committed to providing high quality, low carbon healthcare. She is a primary care net zero lead for NHS North East London Integrated Care Board (ICB). She is involved with Greener Practice which is the UK’s primary care sustainability network. Her practice achieved gold in the Green Impact for Health awards in 2023.

Chris grew up in Surrey and qualified as a chartered accountant. He worked for 14 years in the private sector before joining the NHS as finance director of Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Trust. Chris became the Trust’s Chief Executive in 2002, then in 2007 he became Chief Executive of NHS Cambridge . In 2011 he founded a consultancy practise supporting the NHS, local authorities and 3rd sector organisations. He has also been executive chair of a Community Trust and most recently Chief Executive of a large GP federation. Chris has been a non-executive director of a hospice charity; a primary care service for homeless people; and an accommodation and support service for young people leaving care. He is currently a non-executive director of a group of GP practises in Rotherham and of an organisation providing procurement, training and building in the social housing sector in Sheffield.