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.

Jacob is a consultant addiction psychiatrist working in the National Health Service and an Associate Registrar for Sustainability at the Royal College of Psychiatry. Through the RCPsych he works to support the transition of mental health services to embody values of sustainability. He has a specific interest in developing a wider appreciation for the interface between mental health and nature. As an Associate at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, Jacob helped to develop the Green Walking Initiative a project which seeks to integrate experiences of nature into inpatient psychiatric care.

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.

Sandy is a values-based leader. She has political experience, a thirst for hard work and is passionate about the role of charities and membership organisations to make a positive change in Society. She has a wealth of experience operating at a senior management level, leading strategy and change programmes for non profit organisations and membership bodies particularly those involved in professional education, training, standards, research and international development. She joined the Intensive Care Society in November 2017 where she is Chief Executive responsible for the strategic leadership of the Intensive Care Society. Between 2020 and 2022 she led the transition of the Society’s investment portfolio to divest of fossil fuels and invest more sustainably. In 2020 she received a national Memcom Award for Outstanding Leadership in a Time of Crisis. In 2023 she was elected to be a trustee of UKHACC.

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.

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.

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.