Professor John Newton is a public health physician and epidemiologist with a wide range of interests who has held many senior roles in public health over his career. He was Director of Health Improvement at Public Health England until 2021 and has been Vice President of the UK Faculty of Public Health. In the past he was an academic epidemiologist in the University of Oxford, Director of Research and Development in two large teaching hospitals, and was the first Director and CEO of the UK Biobank project. He has also been a Regional Director of Public Health in the NHS and adviser to the Secretary of State on testing for coronavirus.
John has led England’s contribution to reporting the Global Burden of Disease project since 2015 and is a member of the International Scientific Council of the Global Burden of Disease study. He also chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of Sante publique France.

John has worked in epidemiology for 30 years, mainly on the use of routine data for research including disease registration. He is especially interested in the application of epidemiological estimates to informing public health and health and social care policy and practice. Currently he is working mainly on summarising the health impacts of climate change. He was a co-author of the UK’s national COVID-19 Infection Survey.