Rosanna O’Connor is Director, Alcohol, Drugs & Tobacco within the Health and Wellbeing Directorate of Public Health England (PHE). PHE was established in April 2013 with a mission to protect and improve the nation’s health and to address inequalities. Rosanna was previously Director of Delivery at the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA). Having joined the NTA in 2003, she quickly assumed responsibility for all the agency’s operational activity. Rosanna was a previous Board member of the Youth Justice Board, chairing the Secure Accommodation Committee.
Rosanna previously held senior positions in two national voluntary sector organisations, building a significant track record of developing and delivering community, residential and prison-based services for a range of disadvantaged and complex groups of people.
Rosanna’s interest in health inequalities of individuals and communities is based on extensive experience of local communities, having been a leading elected member for 14 years, rooted in voluntary work primarily aimed at giving a voice to people marginalised by the system.
In recent years our understanding of drugs and the harms they can cause has been challenged - as has the health system response. Where once we were reasonably confident that we had a good understanding of drugs, we cannot confidently …
Recent drinking trends, across the population and among young people in particular, have shown that we are drinking less frequently compared with a decade ago. In fact, young adults (aged 16-24) are now as likely to be teetotal as adults …
