Professor Rachel Isba from Lancaster Medical School has been appointed as a trustee for the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH).

Established in 1856, the RSPH is an independent campaigning and educational charity dedicated to improving and protecting the health of the public, both in the UK and around the world.

Professor Isba is a Professor of Medicine at Lancaster Medical School and an NHS Consultant in Paediatric Public Health Medicine for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

She said: “I am really pleased to have joined the RSPH at such an exciting time in its development.

“I am trained in public health but also clinical paediatrics, so I have everyday experience of how things like inequalities impact my patients. I feel that as a trustee I will be able to advocate for children and young people.”

Professor Isba is currently enrolled in the Wellcome Trust and Advance HE programme “Success on the board”, which aims to increase diversity at Board level.

“When I was considering applying I was particularly struck by how closely its strategic plan reflected the big issues that I see in my clinical public health practice. For example, health inequalities, which are central to their vision and voice, and have a massive impact every day on my patients and their caregivers. I also firmly support their statement that 'public health is everyone's responsibility' and feel that my research and clinical practice embed this belief in everything I do.

“I think the very broad membership is also a particular strength – from tattooists to Natasha Kaplinsky and Michael Sheen!”

Professor Isba is one of seven new trustees from a range of sectors and backgrounds who have been appointed to the RSPH.

The RSPH Chair of Council, Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard FRSPH FFPH said:

“I am delighted to welcome the new members to the council who bring a wealth of diverse expertise. I look forward to working with them to deliver our new strategy which focuses on enabling everyone to improve the public’s health, addressing inequalities in health that matter to us all and empowering the breadth of the public health workforce to tackle these challenges.”

Professor Isba’s work focuses on delivering opportunistic public health interventions, such as vaccination, in non-traditional settings, such as hospital Emergency Departments.

She qualified from Oxford in 2003 and moved back to her native Manchester to undertake training in paediatrics and public health.

In addition to her medical qualifications, she has Masters Degrees in Public Health, Physiological Sciences, and Infectious Diseases.

She recently completed a Doctorate in Data Science, to accompany her PhD in Medical Education. She has a number of honorary appointments, including at the University of California, Riverside.