James Williams is Director of Public Health for Medway Unitary Authority, which is one of the largest conurbations in the South East of England. He has over 24 years of public health experience working with diverse populations in areas such as Kent, Kirklees, Southend and latterly Medway.
James is passionate about addressing health inequalities and as Professor Michael Marmot says, “tackling the causes of the causes”. He has been involved in shaping health policy at local, regional, national and international level, and was a speaker at the 2017 Smarter Cities Now Conference in Copenhagen, which focused on improving health outcomes through sustainable development.
James is also a 3-time Olympian. This sometimes leads to interesting conversations, for example the learning we can take from the principles of high-performance sport and whether, or how, these might be transferable to the delivery of population level outcomes.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the conditions most strongly associated with health inequalities. Read this blog for an example of best practice where a council has effectively tackled CVD-related inequalities.
