Health equity for children and young people with Prof Sir Michael Marmot

In our fourth Public Health Voices webinar, we welcome world-renowned epidemiologist and global health leader Professor Sir Michael Marmot.

As the cost-of-living crisis pushes more and more families into poverty, the impact on the short and long term health of our next generation will be considerable and damaging. In this lecture, Prof Sir Michael Marmot will discuss the urgent need to reduce health inequalities for children and young people so that they can live healthy, happy lives, irrespective of the circumstances of their birth, and despite the current economic climate.

The talk will be followed by a 15-minute Q&A session Chaired by Dr Michelle Heys (Clinical Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health).

About the speakers

Professor Sir Michael Marmot

Sir Michael Marmot has been Professor of Epidemiology at University College London since 1985, and is Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity.  He is the author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (Bloomsbury: 2015), and Status Syndrome (Bloomsbury: 2004). Professor Marmot is the Advisor to the WHO Director-General, on social determinants of health, in the new WHO Division of Healthier Populations; Distinguished Visiting Professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong (2019-), and co-Director of the of the CUHK Institute of Health Equity. He is the recipient of the WHO Global Hero Award; the Harvard Lown Professorship (2014-2017); the Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health (2015), and 20 honorary doctorates. Marmot has led research groups on health inequalities for nearly 50 years. He chaired the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, several WHO Regional Commissions, and reviews on tackling health inequality for governments in the UK. He served as President of the British Medical Association (BMA) in 2010-2011, and as President of the World Medical Association in 2015.  He is President of Asthma + Lung UK.  He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Honorary Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and of the Faculty of Public Health; an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy; and of the Royal Colleges of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Psychiatry, Paediatrics and Child Health, and General Practitioners. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and of the Brazilian Academy of Medicine.  He was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution for six years and in 2000 he was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen, for services to epidemiology and the understanding of health inequalities. Prof Marmot was appointed a Companion of Honour for services to public health in the King’s 2023 New Year Honours.

Dr Michelle Heys

Michelle Heys is an Associate Professor of Global Child Health and a Community Paediatrican looking after children and young people with cerebral palsy and learning disabilities in Newham, East London.

Michelle researches into how health systems can improve outcomes for children and young people in low resource settings (UK, Nepal, India, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Australia). Her work focuses on priority populations: sick and small newborns; those with a diagnosis of complex neurodisability and/or with neurodiversity, those living in temporary accommodation and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people.

Public Health Voices

‘Public Health Voices’ is a webinar series, open to all, which aims to engage with and showcase the importance of interdisciplinarity in public health research and training.

By working together with multiple disciplines, and in collaboration with local communities, local government, the NHS, the third sector, and industry, we can have a real impact on public health research and practice. Read more.