infectious diseases doctor, UCLH

Dr. Chris van Tulleken is an infectious diseases doctor at UCLH with a diploma in Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Molecular Virology from UCL. In 2016 Chris won the Max Perutz award at the Royal Institution for his HIV research.

He is one of the BBC’s leading science presenters having worked on many flagship Health & Science programmes including: Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, Horizon, and The Truth About…, among others. He also co-hosts the hugely successful CBBC series Operation Ouch!

In 2023, Chris published Ultra Processed People, an exposé on the food industry. It became an international bestseller, topping both the UK and US charts.

Buy my book here:

Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop?

Relevant Article:
The Big Idea: Why We Need a New Definition of Junk Food

Senior Lecturer, Imperial COllege London

James Kinross is a reader in Colorectal Surgery and a Consultant Surgeon at Imperial College London. His clinical interest is in minimally invasive and robotic surgery for colorectal cancer.

James is currently head of Speciality at Imperial College NHS trust and has had several senior academic leadership roles a Imperial College London, and he is a co-director of an MSc in healthcare design. He is a graduate of the NIHR leadership programme and he was an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Surgery and an Ethicon Laparoscopic Fellow in Colorectal Surgery. He was awarded a Royal College of Surgeons of England training fellowship during his PhD on the gut microbiome and he was funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences as an early stage lecturer.

James is a visiting Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. He is currently funded by CRUK, DASA, UKRI, Horizon 2020 and the EPSRC. He performs translational research into the microbiome and was a co-investigator on the EU funded GROWTH consortium, studying how breast milk influences the co-evolution of the gut microbiome. His first book, Dark Matter, the new science of the microbiome was published in 2023. He is currently supervising 7 PhD students, and he has published over 200 peer reviewed papers.

Health summit host

Dr Sian Williams is an award-winning journalist who’s spent almost 40 years as a reporter, producer, and presenter across the BBC and ITN, including more than a decade hosting ‘BBC Breakfast’. She is also a Chartered Counselling Psychologist in the NHS helping emergency responders deal with anxiety, stress, and trauma.

In her private clinic, Sian works with individual journalists, documentary teams and other news media to promote better mental health in challenging environments. She’s written a book, numerous articles, and published peer-reviewed academic papers on recovery after adversity.

Sian presents ‘ Life Changing’ on BBC Radio 4, which has had more than ten million downloads.

director, first steps nutrition trust

Dr Vicky Sibson is a Public Health Nutritionist with an MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD from University College London. She has spent her career to date working internationally and in the UK, in the NGO sector and academia, always focusing on maternal, infant and young child nutrition and feeding. Vicky joined First Steps Nutrition Trust shortly after having her first baby and keen to bring her international experience to bear in the UK. She has been the charity’s Director since 2021 and is passionate about leading its small but mighty team in its vision to ensure all young children in the UK eat well from the start of life. In 2023 she co-authored the report: “Ultraprocessed foods in the diets of infants and young children in the UK: What they are, how they harm health and what should be done to reduce intakes”.

author

Author of The Politics of Breastfeeding, Gabrielle Palmer has been involved for more than 40 years in international efforts to stop the unethical promotion of breastmilk substitutes globally and also to support appropriate infant feeding.

Palmer resolved to work against the unethical promotion of artificial milks over breastfeeding. She was instrumental in establishing the campaigning group Baby Milk Action based in Cambridge, UK, and of which she is still a patron. This work with Baby Milk Action included coordinating the UK boycott of Nestle products.

In 1988, Palmer’s first book, The Politics of Breastfeeding proved influential and became required reading on courses for midwives and others.

She remained busy with campaigning, designing training courses, teaching, consultancies and writing. From 1991 to 1997 Palmer was co-director of the international short course, Breastfeeding: practice and policy at the Institute of Child Health, London. She has worked and run short training courses for health professionals in over 30 countries including Mongolia, Libya and North Korea, and in 1999, she was appointed HIV and Infant Feeding Officer in UNICEF HQ, New York. From  2001 to 2007 she interleaved this work with part time teaching in the Public Health Nutrition Department at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

Louise is the Executive Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Liverpool, deputy Chair of the Board of Liverpool Health Partners, a Non-Executive Director at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital and from April 2024, the Chair of Population and Systems Medicine (PSMB) at the Medical Research Council.

She was the founding Director of the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funded Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research (INFANT www.infantcentre.ie) and was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Cork University Maternity Hospital where she worked as a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist from 2006-2018.

Louise is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. She has written over 300 original scientific papers and didactic texts on the aetiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology and clinical management of this condition, supported by a portfolio of personal awards now in excess of £65 million. The work of Louise’s group has translated from the bench to clinical practice and has led to changes in guidelines both nationally and internationally. She is the founder and Principal Investigator of the Wellcome Trust funded programme Children Growing up in Liverpool (C-GULL), the first new birth cohort in the UK for two decades.

As of April 2024 Louise has taken on the role as Chair of the MRC Population and Systems Medicine Board.

Louise has received numerous awards for her work; most recently she was elected a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to research in the NHS.

Clinical Nutritionist, Physical & Mental Health Coach, Author

Stephanie has worked in the natural health field for over 30 years as a self-employed natural health therapist, clinical nutritionist, author and health coach. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutritional Medicine and a Masters degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy, plus a long history as a multi-disciplinary physical therapist and fitness coach, she combines all skill sets to help people with many kinds of health issues, both physical and psychological with a prevention-first focus.

Stephanie conducts one-to-one nutritional therapy clinics in Surrey and Online offering a comprehensive assessment of her patients’ health issues to then provide detailed, personalised health protocols. With specialist interest in digestive health and the effect of the gut microbiome on  metabolic, hormonal and mental health conditions, Stephanie works with numerous GPs supporting treatment plans for challenging cases with eating disorders, metabolic chronic disease and cancer, both pre, during and post treatment.

For 9 years Stephanie was head of nutrition at Grayshott Medical Spa and clinical lead for the 7-day digestive health regime that she co-developed in 2012. Her gut health protocol is the inspiration behind GutGastronomy, a cookbook based on her gut healing philosophy. Since the closing of Grayshott Medical Spa in November 2020, Stephanie has relocated the health programme to Goodwood Estate, where it is now run as a 5 day, fully immersive experience at the Goodwood hotel and spa.

Stephanie contributes to various health publications; is often featured in the media as a health expert; she published her first book in 2017 called ‘Why Eating Less & Exercising More Makes You Fat!’, which explains why conventional weight loss advice fails and what to do instead to achieve permanent health and weight loss goals. She has also co-authored a book on Super-Foods with doctor of biochemistry and health campaigner, Dr James DiNicolantonio, and following her recent training in Nutritional Neuroscience, has written her soon to be published latest book ‘Eat Your Brain Happy’, which focuses on the critical role of gut health, food, sleep, exercise and other factors known to directly influence the health of the brain.

Stephanie has also recently embarked on a degree in canine nutrition and well-being, bringing together her love of dogs and health.