In 2002, Sam transitioned to public health after a decade as a health journalist. His reporting career, which included roles as a reporter, editor, and freelance correspondent for national publications, saw him collaborate with international health organisations in countries facing significant public health challenges. He covered diverse issues, from health service reform in Rwanda to malaria and TB control in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV care in Uganda, and palliative care in South Africa. This experience intensified his passion for public health.

After qualifying in 2008, Sam began working as a public health consultant for the Bournemouth and Poole Primary Care Trust. Following several system reorganisations, he became the Director of Public Health for Dorset and BCP Councils in August 2019, leading a shared public health service for the past six years.

In December 2024, Sam was appointed Director of Public Health and Prevention for Dorset Council. This change came after the decision to end the strategic partnership between Dorset Council and BCP Council, with each council providing its own public health services from 1 April 2025.

Outside of work, Sam enjoys exploring Dorset and beyond with his wife, Cath, and their sons, Seb and Toby. He is an avid runner and cyclist, and he loves music—playing the piano and synthesisers and listening to the extensive vinyl collection he and Cath have amassed over the past 30 years.

A background in social science and leadership for health equity has shaped my understanding of health as a social justice issue.

On a wider front, I am a member of the Kerslake Commission to end homelessness, a board member of the Faculty of Public Health, an active member of the Association of Directors Public Health and a Professor in the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences at the University of the West of England.

My current public health practice is grounded in many years of multi-disciplinary working across education, health, social care, housing and the voluntary sector as well as involvement in social action with communities and of community designed and led solutions.

In Bristol we work to create the conditions for health with our One City many community partnerships, including the NHS, universities and academic partners.

Dr Eunan O’Neill is the Director of Public Health for Cornwall, where he leads the statutory public health functions and strategic efforts to improve population health and reduce inequalities across the county.

Prior to his appointment as DPH, Eunan led Cornwall’s healthcare public health, working closely with NHS colleagues on operational public health priorities, aligning them with Council ambitions and community needs. His leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oxfordshire was pivotal in shaping the local response and strengthening system-wide collaboration.

As the newly appointed DPH in Cornwall his leadership spans the statutory functions and roles of the DPH, with a focus on reducing child poverty, improving mental health, embedding a prevention approach across the Council, and addressing the wider determinants of health.

He also serves as Centre Director for the Cornwall Health Determinants Research Collaboration, a cross-sector initiative focused on embedding research and evidence into local decision-making.

Eunan began his career in dentistry in Ireland before transitioning into public health in 2009. He completed specialty training in London and is dual-qualified as a Specialist in Dental Public Health and Public Health. Since 2013, he has held senior public health roles in Oxfordshire and Cornwall, with a portfolio spanning health protection, healthcare public health, research and intelligence, health inequalities, cardiovascular disease, sexual health, oral health, and strategic partnerships.

Eunan is a passionate advocate for equity, innovation, and workforce development. He has served as a Faculty Advisor for the South-Central region and as a portfolio assessor for the UK Public Health Register (UKPHR). He continues to mentor emerging public health professionals through his role as an educational supervisor.

Steve was appointed as Director of Public Health for Devon County Council in January 2021.

After completing his first degree in Sports Science and Leisure Steve started his career in Public Health working for the NHS in Devon in 1995.

Steve completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Health Promotion and went on to undertake a master’s degree in Public Health at the University of the West of England. Steve remained working in the NHS, undertaking various senior public health roles including Acting and Interim Director of Public Health for South Hams and West Devon Primary Care Trust and Assistant Director for Devon Primary Care Trust.

In 2002 the Primary Care Group (PCG) became a Primary Care Trust (PCT) and during the next four years, he worked as the Acting and then Interim Director of Public Health. With changes to the NHS and the merger of the previous six PCTs into a single Devon Primary Care Trust in 2006, he was appointed as Assistant Director of Public Health. He joined the UK Public Health Register in 2006 and became a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health in the same year.

He transferred to Devon County Council on 1 April 2013 as Assistant Director of Public Health, becoming Deputy Director of Public Health in 2016. Steve then completed an 18-month secondment to Cornwall Council and the Council of the Isles of Scilly as the Service Director of Wellbeing and Public Health until he returned to Devon in April 2020.

Following the NHS reforms, Steve joined Devon County Council as Assistant Director of Public Health in 2013, becoming Deputy Director of Public Health in 2016. Following an 18-month secondment to Cornwall Council and the Council of the Isles of Scilly as the Service Director of Wellbeing and Public Health Steve returned to Devon in April 2020.

Steve’s ambition is to increase the efforts of all partners to focus more on equity of access to health and care services, doing more to tackle inequalities in health and investing more in prevention.

Away from work, his two sons keep him very active, playing golf, mountain biking, walking and swimming

Siobhan joined Gloucestershire County Council as Deputy Director of Public Health just seven weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. From July 2022, she has been Director of Public Health for Gloucestershire.

She is also lead for domestic abuse support services, community and accommodation-based support, travellers and migration.  Before coming to Gloucestershire, Siobhan worked as a Public Health Consultant for Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership and, prior to that, Salford City Council.

Siobhan led Public Health Evidence and Intelligence at Salford, commissioning for the Sexual Health and Health Checks programmes, as well as Health Protection.  She obtained her Masters degree in Public Health at University of  Liverpool graduated from the North West Public Health Training Scheme in 2014.  Siobhan’s holds a first class Honours degree in Physiology and her early career was in local government and health improvement, including leading a sex education programme in Hartlepool, and working in Healthy Schools in Redcar and Cleveland and St. Helens.

Matt Lenny is the Director of Healthy & Sustainable Communities at North Somerset Council where he has responsibility for a wide range of functions including his role as Director of Public Health. Other areas of leadership covered by his post are regulatory services (licensing, trading standards, environmental protection and food and commercial safety), emergency planning, community safety, economy and placemaking, climate emergency and planning.

Matt has worked for almost 30 years in local government, the NHS and Department of Health & Social Care. Matt was appointed Director of Public Health in 2019.

He is a member of the UK Public Health Register and the Faculty of Public Health.  He holds a Master’s in Public Health and also Business Administration and is a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Public Health and Applied Sciences at the University of the West of England.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant has been Director of Public Health for Torbay since January 2021. In this role, he works closely with communities and organisations to improve the health and wellbeing of residents and reduce the variations in health outcomes. He and his team are applying lessons learnt from the response to the Covid-19 pandemic to be ready for any health hazard that may arise. Lincoln is also the lead for prevention and reducing Health Inequalities across NHS Devon.

Lincoln spent 8 years as Director of Public Health for North Yorkshire where he played a key role in developing and improving North Yorkshire’s public health functions and services creating, funding and supporting critical prevention programmes. He was previously a Consultant in Public Health Medicine with NHS Cambridgeshire and his portfolio included health protection, social inclusion, mental health, housing growth and planning.

He was an Associate Lecturer in Public Health and Epidemiology with the University of Cambridge and a Recognised Clinical Teacher at the medical school there. Lincoln is a medical graduate of University of West Indies and holds postgraduate degrees from University of Cambridge in Epidemiology and Public Health.

Kate is the Director of Public Health for Wiltshire, the principal advisor for public and population health, spanning all four domains of public health: health improvement, health protection, healthcare public health, wider determinants of health and health inequalities.

Kate has held the role of Director of Public Health in Wiltshire since 2020, providing the public health leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kate is also a Visiting Professor in the Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing, University of the West of England, Bristol.

Emma Kain is the Director of Public Health for Swindon, working as part of the new Prevention and Communities Directorate at Swindon Borough Council. Emma is passionate about reducing health inequalities and in her previous role led the health inequalities portfolio for the SW regional vaccination and screening team, including the SW COVID vaccination programme.

She is currently working with partners in Swindon to bring together the council’s vision for a prevention and early intervention model with the wider neighbourhood health programme, with a focus on our Core20 areas. Emma’s interests include climate and health, training, and public health ethics.

Alison has been acting as the DPH for Somerset Council since January 2025 and was appointed substantively to this post in July 2025. In this role she is also the HDRC Centre Director for Somerset.

Previously Alison was the Health Protection Lead Consultant for Somerset Council and led the pandemic response on behalf of the DPH and prior to that was the lead for Child Health.

Alison’s career started as a clinician within the NHS; she then worked for 10 years in public health in developing countries, for global leaders in communicable disease control; DfID, WHO, UNICEF and the Malaria Consortium, across East and West Africa and Central Asia. Alison was briefly a civil servant within the Department for International Development. On return to the UK Alison completed the 5-year postgraduate medical training to become a Consultant in Public Health. National Public Health Specialty Training Recruitment – FPH – Faculty of Public Health

Since qualifying in 2005, Alison has worked in a range of NHS and Local Government roles, as the Director of Public Health role and related functions returned to Local Government in 2013. Alison constantly strives to improve people’s health and wellbeing, especially those on the margins of society, who lack a voice. Alison remains passionate about tackling health inequalities, delivering evidence-based interventions and being a system leader for her population’s health and wellbeing in its broadest sense.

Sarah Weld is Director of Public Health (DPH) for South Gloucestershire. She is a public health leader with over two decades of experience in health improvement, policy, and community wellbeing. She has worked in South Gloucestershire Council as a Consultant and Deputy Director since 2015 and became DPH in 2022.

Sarah is passionate about evidence-based policy, cross-sector collaboration, and creating environments where everyone can thrive. She is currently co-chair of South West ADPH Network, and also co-chairs the national ADPH Workforce and Funding Policy Advisory Group.

Sarah has a particular interest in health and care service improvement and the role of public health in supporting evidence and intelligence-based decision making. This includes working with academic partners to plan and conduct research and help bring research evidence into practice and provide training for the local workforce. Sarah is a Visiting Professor with the Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing, University of the West of England, and Honorary Senior Lecturer to the University of Bristol.

Outside of work Sarah loves spending time outside whatever the weather – walking, swimming, exploring, climbing trees and building sandcastles with her family. She enjoys all kinds of music and sings with a local choral society.

Professor Steve Maddern is the Director of Public Health at Plymouth City Council, bringing extensive experience from roles across the NHS, Public Health England, and several local authorities. Originally from Plymouth, he returned to his hometown in December 2024 to lead a broad portfolio including public health, environmental health, civil protection, community empowerment, leisure, licensing, registration and bereavement services.

Previously, Steve served as Director of Public Health for Swindon Borough Council, where he led the town through the COVID-19 pandemic and became a trusted public figure through regular community engagement. His work in Swindon included championing a ‘whole systems’ approach to tackling obesity, promoting physical activity, and addressing the wider determinants of health through planning and policy.

In Plymouth, Steve is responsible for shaping and delivering strategic initiatives to improve health outcomes and reduce inequalities across the city. As the Council’s chief public health advisor and corporate leader, he plays a critical role in integrating health into all policies, overseeing the local health protection response, and guiding collaborative efforts across the NHS, voluntary sector, and communities. Committed to evidence-based practice, innovation, and inclusive approaches, Steve leads the city’s efforts to address complex health challenges and build a healthier, fairer future for all residents.

Rob Carroll has been the Director of Public Health & Communities for Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole since the 1st of April 2025.

Prior to this, Rob worked in a number of specialist public health roles in both the NHS and local government in Hampshire, before taking up a position as a Consultant in Public Health at Swindon Borough Council in 2021.

Katie began her Public Health career 17 years ago, after experience in social care and the VCSE.

Katie has led public health portfolio areas including ageing well, cancer prevention, health protection, substance use disorder, mental health, and children, young people and maternity. Katie also has provider experience as the CQC Registered Manager for Children’s Community Health.   Katie welcomes opportunities to share learning with others and have been involved in setting up the National Association of Child Death Review Professionals, been a NICE Scholar and member of the NICE Implementation and Adoption panel.

Katie works as Director of Public Health for the Isles of Scilly, and Assistant Director in Public Health in Cornwall, and is a Trustee of the South West Coastal Path Association.

Paul has been Interim Director of Public Health and Prevention for B&NES Council since April 2026.   Before this he worked in public health roles across local government and the NHS in the South West of England.  Paul is a public health engagement lead for NIHR, strengthening public health research activity across the B&NES Swindon and Wiltshire areas, and is a Visiting Professor at the University of the West of England.