Steven, a geographer (BSc) with training in epidemiology (MSc) and public health (PhD), joined LSHTM after holding posts at Queen Mary, University of London and the MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow.

Steven has been Academic Visitor at The Pennsylvania State University (2004) and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Social Epidemiology & Population Health, University of Michigan (2005–06). He has served on the committee of the RGS-IBG Geography of Health Research Group and the BSA Sociology of Food Group and, at various times, has undertaken expert advice to the Food Standards Agency, Department of Health, Department for Transport, Canadian Insititutes for Health Research, Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada, Scottish Government, US National Cancer Institute and the US National Academy of Science. He has been a full committee member of the Society for Social Medicine (2006–2009), an appointed member of the Food Standards Agency Social Science Research Committee (2008–11), and a member of the NICE PDG on the Population Prevention of Diabetes (2009–15). He was a founding member of the NIHR Public Health Research Funding Board, on which he served for the maximum term of 6 years (2009-2015).

Steven’s research has been supported by a wide range of funders including ESRC, Department of Health, MRC, NIHR, NIH, The Leverhulme Trust and The Wellcome Trust. Steven’s primary research interests are in the contextual and socio-environmental determinants of health (particularly diet, physical activity and psychological wellbeing); the design and evaluation of community social and policy interventions to improve population health; the consumer consequences of food retail restructuring; and the public policy implications of geographical research. In recognition of this work Steven has been awarded a Phillip Leverhulme Prize (2007) and the Association for the Study of Obesity Young Achiever Award (2009).

Steven current external roles include sitting on the MRC Strategic Skills Fellowship Panel, the NIHR Doctoral Fellowships Panel, ESRC Future Leaders Funding Panel, and the Prevention Expert Review Panel of the CRUK Population Research Committee. He is also a member of The Movember Foundation's Global Advisory Commitee for Men's Health, with a particular responsibility for physical inactivity strategy, and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Epidemiology & Population Health.