4th December 2025
During Richard’s term as Chair from 2019-2025, he oversaw the establishment of UKHACC becoming an independent registered charity and more than doubled the membership to 50 health organisations representing over one million health professionals across the UK.
Newly appointed co-Chairs, Hugh Montgomery and Sandy Mather, said. “We are delighted Richard has agreed to maintain a strong connection with UKHACC through his role as an ambassador. Richard has long been an advocate for greater awareness and stronger action to protect health from the impacts of climate change and nature loss and will continue to do this through his role as an ambassador.”
Richard Smith said: “I’m pleased to be able to continue my connection with UKHACC. Doing all we can to mitigate the climate and nature crisis, promote adaptation, and explain the benefits that can flow to health is important work, probably the most important. I want to try and be creative in how I contribute.”
Among other roles, Richard is chair of the Point of Care Foundation, Patients Know Best, and co-chair of the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death. He previously served as chair of the board of trustees of icddr,b (formerly the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), and directed for the UnitedHealth Group a programme with the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. From 1979-2004 he worked at the BMJ, including as editor of the journal and chief executive of the BMJ Publishing Group from 1991 until he left. He is an adjunct professor at Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation, graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh, and worked for six years as a television doctor with the BBC and TV-AM. He has a degree in management science from the Stanford Business School.
Richard joins existing ambassadors Fiona Godlee, Parveen Kumar, David Pencheon, and Robin Stott in supporting the core aims of the alliance to increase knowledge and understanding of the links between climate change and health, empower health professionals to advocate for better responses to the climate and ecological crisis, and influence change by encouraging decision makers to strengthen policies that protect the public from the impacts of climate change and nature loss.