About Us
About Health Equity North
Health Equity North is a virtual institute focused on place-based solutions to public health problems and health inequalities. Our members have a unique understanding of their regional communities, creating research and policy solutions of local benefit, but also with the potential for national and international translation. Health Equity North is a key resource for political and civil stakeholders.
Our Vision
To end health inequity through research, policy impact, and public health improvement.
Our Mission
To fight health inequity by influencing policymakers and enhancing stakeholder understanding of health inequalities through research-informed evidenced solutions.
Health Equity North is supported by the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA)
A health and life sciences partnership between leading NHS hospital trusts and universities in Northern England.
The NHSA works together with its members, industry, and government to mobilise the North’s assets for the benefit of the people and the economy by, brokering research collaborations, building expert networks, attracting investment, and providing a unified voice for the region’s health research system.
Our Team
Meet our Directors
About Hannah Davies
She has led the Northern Health Science Alliance’s (NHSA) health inequalities work from launching the 2018 Health for Wealth report to its most recent reports developing relationships with academics, government and other stakeholders. She is also Deputy Chief Executive at the NHSA.
About Kate Pickett
She is a world-leading figure in public health. She heads the Public Health and Society Research Group and is Deputy Director of the Centre for Future Health at the University of York. She is co-author, with Richard Wilkinson, of the bestselling The Spirit Level (2009) and The Inner Level (2018). Kate co-led the NHSA/N8 Child of the North report.
About David Taylor-Robinson
He is a Professor of Public Health and Policy at the University of Liverpool, and a Professor of Child Public Health at the University of Copenhagen. He works clinically as a Consultant in Public Health at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. David leads Liverpool’s Health Inequalities Policy Research Group (HIPR) and he recently co-led the N8/NHSA Child of the North report.
About Clare Bambra
She is a Professor of Public Health, at Newcastle University and author of Health Divides and An Unequal Pandemic. She leads the health and care inequalities theme for the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaborations and is a Senior Investigator in the NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria. Clare led the Health for Wealth report and co-led the Covid19 reports
About Luke Munford
He is a Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at The University of Manchester. He co-leads the ‘health in a wider context’ theme within the School of Health Sciences as well as the economic sustainability theme within the NIHR ARC Greater Manchester. Luke led the Health Inequalities in Left Behind Neighbourhoods report and co-led the Covid19 reports.
About Amy Barnes
Amy's work focuses on power and control: how institutional conditions enable or constrain how people or groups can develop and exercise their capabilities to be healthy and thrive. She has worked on a range of different public health topics: child of the north, coproduction in local commissioning, community action, neighbourhood planning, food systems, governance and inclusive decision-making.
Dr Natalie Bennett
Postdoctoral Research Associate, The University of Sheffield
About Dr Natalie Bennett
Natalie is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Sheffield Methods Institute at the University of Sheffield and holds an inequalities fellow position within the National Institute of Health Research North East and North Cumbria Applied Research Collaboration. Natalie is a social epidemiologist with a background in human geography and a keen interest in the role of place and geography on health and inequalities.
About Dr Hannah Fairbrother
Hannah is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the University of Sheffield. Hannah’s research focuses on the social, economic and political causes of health inequity, particularly in relation to children, young people and families. Hannah is a member of the leadership team for the NIHR School for Public Health Research Children, Young People and Families Programme. Recent projects have explored: young people’s perspectives on health inequalities and local strategies to reduce housing insecurity for families with children.
About Professor Heather Brown
Heather Brown is a Professor of Health Inequalities at Lancaster University. Her main research interests are the economics causes and consequences of health inequalities and policy evaluation. She is particularly interested in inequalities across and between generations and how policies can reduce these inequalities by removing structural barriers. Heather uses large datasets including linked data to evaluate policy as well as identify current trends and areas for future policy and interventions.
About Dr Nasima Akhter
Nasima Akhter is an Associate Professor of Public Health at Teesside University. Her research focus on health and educational inequalities, evaluation of interventions, mental wellbeing, nutrition and food insecurity. She has rich and diverse experience in interdisciplinary research, global health, and analysis of large and complex datasets. She aims to make data available to support policy decisions to reduce inequality, food insecurity, and malnutrition, and is particularly keen on research promoting health of South Asians in the UK.
About Dr Michelle Addison
Michelle is Associate Professor of Criminology at Durham University. She is interested in the criminalisation of poverty and the role power, stigma, and social harm play in widening social and health inequalities. Her research is focused on social justice for those facing the greatest social and health disadvantages in society – particularly those involved in the criminal justice system. Using a range of creative qualitative methods, Michelle explores the impact of social harm on the lives of people experiencing marginalisation, minoritisation, and oppression.
About Dr Paul Norman
Dr Paul Norman is an Associate Professor: Population & Health Geography at Leeds University specialising in population and health geography. His research interests include: Harmonisation of small area level socio-demographic, morbidity and mortality data to enable time-series analysis of demographic and health change
About Alexis Darby
Prior to joining the NHSA Alexis worked for the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and managed the Policy@Manchester team at The University of Manchester, she has also worked for Members of Parliament and a political party in research and campaign roles.
About Ruth Boston
Ruth has over a decade of experience in the media industry, starting her career as a news journalist before moving into PR. She has worked at one of the North East’s leading communications agencies and as a freelance communications specialist. She has developed and delivered a wide range of regional and national PR campaigns
About Charlotte Thompson
Charlotte has extensive experience in communications, having previously worked in the NHS and local authorities prior to joining the NHSA.
About Sean Collins
Sean worked as a Graphic Artist at ncjMedia for 20 years before becoming a Freelance Illustrator, during which time his clients included Dorling Kindersley, Cambridge University Press, Financial Times and Morrisons
Our Partners
