I conduct public health policy research, including on the commercial determinants of health, the impact of voluntary agreements on public health objectives, and conflicts of interest in food and nutrition. For example I was co-PI of a recent study on public health practitioners’ attitudes and practices of taking research funding from corporate sources. I recently established the International Research Alliance on Public Health Governance to conduct cross-disciplinary research on public health policies, including formal and informal mechanisms through which state and non-state actors gain agency and shape relevant policy. One of the group’s first papers has recently been published in Milbank Quarterly on taking a systems perspective to analyse the commercial determinants of health.

I also conduct research on food and nutrition policy and food systems analysis, public health governance, and obesity and inequalities. I am co-PI of a Welcome Trust project on sustainable food systems and involved in a European Commission funded project on systems approaches to addressing adolescent obesity. 

I provide public health research leadership at the LSHTM Policy Innovation Research Unit, along with Professor Mark Petticrew. Our most recent work includes the evaluation of the “Public Health Responsibility Deal”, a public-private partnership aiming to improve public health in England.