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Amanda took up the role of Director of Public Health in County Durham in May 2017 having previously been DPH in South Tyneside and is committed to improving and protecting the health of local residents.  She has worked on reducing health inequalities using an assets approach for over twenty years and plays a key role in understanding the health challenges and positive aspects of health and wellbeing locally. Amanda works in collaboration with a range of partners to develop plans e.g., Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and has a pivotal part in embedding public health across the local authority, with partners and most importantly with communities.  

Amanda has taken a key role in the response to covid-19 since from January 2020 until the current time. This has included close working arrangements with Durham University as well as system partners. 

Amanda is chair of the NE Association of Directors of Public Health and is Vice Chair of the Integrated Health System Population Health and Prevention Board. 

Home – Durham County Council

Alice Wiseman has been Director of Public Health in Gateshead since May 2016 and registered with the UK Public Health Register since December 2009.  

Alice is passionate about improving health and well-being with a particular focus on tackling the unacceptable inequalities faced by some communities. 

Alice now has a contract with the Clinical Research Network for half a day a week. Research priorities in Gateshead have focussed on opportunities to gain a better understanding of the lived experience of and impact of Government policy on people in some of the most disadvantaged communities.  

Alice has recently been elected to the Board of ADPH and is also one of the DPH leads for addiction and inequality

Gateshead Council – Gateshead Council

Craig has worked in Public Health for nearly 28 years.  He began his career in health improvement and took on a number of roles in the NHS and local government before joining the Specialty Training programme.   

Craig has worked as a Consultant in Public Health in Newcastle and Deputy Director of Public Health at Hartlepool before taking up the role of Acting DPH in July 2020.  

Craig was appointed to the substantive role in November 2020. 

Hartlepool Borough Council Homepage

Mark has worked in Public Health since 2010, moving into Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council in 2013 after 20 years in the NHS in finance, commissioning, PFI project management and business development.

Mark became Director of Public Health for Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland on 23 March 2020 – the day of the first UK lockdown.

Home | Middlesbrough Council

Alice Wiseman has been Director of Public Health in Gateshead since May 2016 and registered with the UK Public Health Register since December 2009.  

Alice is passionate about improving health and well-being with a particular focus on tackling the unacceptable inequalities faced by some communities. 

Alice now has a contract with the Clinical Research Network for half a day a week. Research priorities in Gateshead have focussed on opportunities to gain a better understanding of the lived experience of and impact of Government policy on people in some of the most disadvantaged communities.  

Alice has recently been elected to the Board of ADPH and is also one of the DPH leads for addiction and inequality

Welcome to our great city | Newcastle City Council

Wendy is an experienced public health specialist and Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. She had a career in the NHS spanning 23 years as a nurse, health visitor and clinical manager before undertaking the Public Health Specialty Training Programme. She  has been employed by North Tyneside Council since 2013 firstly as a Public Health Consultant and then as the  Director of Public Health from 2016. Wendy is responsible for a large and diverse public health department including an in- house 0-19 Children’s Public Health Service (health visitors and school nurses), a public protection service comprising licensing, trading standards and environmental health and a team responsible for community safety and emergency planning. Wendy is  the NE ADPH lead for children and young people, public health nursing, CVD prevention and mental health. 

North Tyneside Council

Gill O’Neill has been appointed as Director of Public Health for Northumberland as of February 2023.  In addition to the public health role Gill has an Executive Director portfolio within Northumberland County Council including leisure, libraries, archives, Northumberland Communities Together, customer engagement, registrars and the Coroner’s office.

Northumberland County Council – Home

Mark has worked in Public Health since 2010, moving into Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council in 2013 after 20 years in the NHS in finance, commissioning, PFI project management and business development.

Mark became Director of Public Health for Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland on 23 March 2020 – the day of the first UK lockdown.

Redcar and Cleveland Homepage | Redcar and Cleveland (redcar-cleveland.gov.uk)

Tom is an experienced public health leader and specialist, having started his public health career in 2003 following his undergraduate degree in Sports Science. Tom gained a master’s in public health in 2007 and was elected to Fellowship of Faculty of Public Health and registered as a Generalist Specialist on the UK Public Health Register (Register Number FR0644) in 2012.

 His first Consultant role was with North Yorkshire County Council before joining the South Tyneside health and care system in 2015. In 2017, Tom became the Director of Public Health. His current role includes being the Council’s Statutory Chief Officer for Health and Wellbeing, Health and Wellbeing Board and Strategy Lead, accountable officer for the discharge of the Public Health Grant and statutory commissioning and provision requirements, and link Director of Public Health for the Northeast Clinical Research Network School of Public Health and the Applied Research Collaboration. Tom is also a member of the Integrated Care Board for the North East and North Cumbria.

Home – South Tyneside Council

Stockton on Tees Borough Council – Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Gerry Taylor is Executive Director for Health, Housing and Communities in Sunderland.  Gerry joined Sunderland City Council in November 2020 following several years as DPH in Luton and developing her Public Health career in North London and for a year in India.  Gerry began her career in Sunderland, at the then Sunderland Polytechnic and returns as visiting professor to the University of Sunderland.  She has been registered on the UKPHR since 2006 and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health

Sunderland Home Page – Sunderland City Council

Colin has been the Director of Public Health for Cumbria since April 2014. Prior to this he worked for Manchester City Council for 11 years in a number of senior public health roles. From 1 April 2023 he will be the Director of Public Health and Communities for the new Cumberland Council. He has particular interests in environmental public health, health protection, community development approaches and coaching for health improvement.

Dr Claire Sullivan is the Deputy Director for Health, Wellbeing and Workforce at the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities. Claire started her career in the voluntary and community sector before joining the NHS Graduate Management Scheme, where she first gained an interest in public health working in the West End of Newcastle. She has worked as a Consultant in Public Health for over 16 years working in a variety of organisations including the NHS, local government and Public Health England. Her special interests include sexual health, reducing harm caused by alcohol and women’s health which informed her PhD research which she completed in 2019. She is passionate about workforce development. After serving as the North East Faculty of Public Health (FPH) CPD advisor, she is now the North East FPH Board Member as well as the Chair of the North East Public Health Practitioner Scheme. 

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities

Peter is the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID) Regional Director and NHS Director of Public Health for North East and Yorkshire.  He joined Public Health England (PHE) in September 2016 as Centre Director for the North East and in May 2020 took on his current role which, following the reforms to the public health system, is now within OHID.

He had previously been the Director of Public Health for Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council for 4 years.  Before this he was a Director of Public Health for 11 years in various NHS posts in the North East of England, including two years as Acting Regional Director of Public Health.

His responsibilities include the provision of public health policy advice to ministers and DHSC, leading a high quality responsive expert public health service to support the work of the Local Authorities and NHS partners in the North East and Yorkshire. He is also the Chair of the OHID Regional Network and a member of the OHID Executive Committee.

Peter started his career as a medical statistician following completion of his PhD in statistics in 1987.  He worked as a lecturer at Newcastle University Medical School until 1996 and was the founding director of the Centre for Health & Medical Research at Teesside University until 1999, for whom is a visiting professor.  He joined Pfizer Pharmaceuticals for a brief spell before joining the NHS in 2000.  He also had four years experience as an acute hospital non-executive director, including being the trust vice chair and setting up and chairing their original clinical governance committee.  He joined Tees Health Authority in 2000 and has held senior public health roles in the North East since then. He also served as a Trustee of ASH for 3 years and is an ex-nonleague football referee.

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities

UK Health Security Agency