Alan Maryon-Davis (born January 1943), is a British doctor turned

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

specialist. He is the

Honorary Professor Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

of Public Health at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, chair of the Public Health Advisory Committee of

NICE Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

of the

UK Department of Health The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwi ...

(2013-?), president of the

Faculty of Public Health The Faculty of Public Health (FPH) is a public health association in the United Kingdom established as a registered charity. It is the standard setting body for public health specialists within the United Kingdom, setting standards for training ...

(2007–10) and the inaugural chair of the

Royal Society for Public Health Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) is an independent, multi-disciplinary charity dedicated to the improvement of the public's health. RSPH helps inform policy and practice, working to educate, empower and support communities and individuals ...

(2008-?).

Early life

He was born in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...

, and was educated at

St Paul's School, London (''By Faith and By Learning'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent school Public school , religion = Church of England , president = , he ...

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

and

St Thomas's Hospital Medical School St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London was one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the UK. The school was absorbed to form part of King's College London. History It was part of one of the oldest hospitals in London, ...

Public health career

Following an early career in hospital medicine and

general practice General practice is the name given in various nations, such as the United Kingdom, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to the services provided by general practitioners. In some nations, such as the US, similar services may be describe ...

, he transferred to the field of

with a focus on health promotion and prevention. He was Head of Health Sciences at the Health Education Council (a national non-government organization based in London) and a member of various

committees and task-forces on

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ...

physical activity Physical activity is defined as any voluntary bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure.Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health, 2009. World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland. Accessed 13/ ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

prevention, accident prevention, and health partnerships. In the mid-1980s he co-founded the National Forum for Coronary Heart Disease Prevention (which became the

National Heart Forum The UK Health Forum (UKHF) (formerly National Heart Forum) is a charitable organisation in the UK allying over 60 charities, non-governmental and medical professional organizations in reducing the risks of coronary heart disease (CHD) and such re ...

and then the UK Health Forum) and, in collaboration with the Welsh Office, the Welsh heart disease prevention programme Heart Beat Wales. In 1988, he switched to working at local level as a public health specialist in inner south London, most recently as Director of Public Health for

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

Primary Care Trust (2002–07). a role he combined with a part-time senior lectureship in public health at

, contributing to the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes. On retirement from the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 2007 he was granted an honorary professorship in public health at Kings. As well as his local role, Maryon-Davis has continued to play a part at national level. He was elected Chair of the Royal Institute of Public Health in 2006 and instigated its merger with the

Royal Society for the Promotion of Health Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) is an independent, multi-disciplinary charity dedicated to the improvement of the public's health. RSPH helps inform policy and practice, working to educate, empower and support communities and individuals ...

to form the

in 2008, becoming the new organisation's inaugural chair. He was also elected as president of the

(2007–10) and focused on championing and expanding the Faculty’s policy and advocacy function with a particular emphasis on childhood obesity, mental health and the health

consequences of climate change The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the Effects of climate change on the water cycle, water cycle, ...

. Maryon-Davis currently chairs the

Public Health Advisory Committee In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

for the

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in England that publishes guidelines in four areas: * the use of health technologies withi ...

developing a series of guidelines on effective interventions for tackling such issues as oral health, indoor air quality and mental wellbeing at work (2013- ). His charity roles, running in parallel with the above, have included: trustee of Medicinema, putting cinemas in hospitals around the UK (1998–2018); chair of the parents' and babies' charity Best Beginnings (2011–16); chair of Alcohol Research UK (2014–18), overseeing its merger with Alcohol Concern to form the new charity Alcohol Change, becoming its first chair (2018–19); and chair of Medact, which campaigns for health, social and

climate justice Climate justice is a concept that addresses the just division, fair sharing, and equitable distribution of the burdens of climate change and its mitigation and responsibilities to deal with climate change. "Justice", "fairness", and "equity" ar ...

(2019- ). He also chairs Nadder Community Energy, a community benefit society promoting renewable energy generation and use in Wiltshire (2020- ). Maryon-Davis was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours 2021 for services to Public Health.

Media career

Alan Maryon-Davis has also been a prolific writer and broadcaster on health matters in a parallel career spanning over 40 years. His broadcasting began as the regular guest doctor on the London

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

in the mid-1970s. He then became the

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

'Doc' in a regular slot called ''Stayin' Alive'' with DJ David ('Kid') Jensen. In the 1980s he presented a number of series on health for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and was a co-presenter, with doctors

Graeme Garden David Graeme Garden OBE (born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish comedian, actor, author, artist and television presenter, best known as a member of The Goodies and a regular panellist on ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. Early life and education ...

and Gillian Rice, of BBC1's popular medical series '' Bodymatters''. Most recently he has made numerous appearances on national radio and TV commenting on the COVID-19 pandemic. His journalism has included a wide range of outlets. He wrote a weekly 'Dear Dr Alan' Q&A column in ''Woman'' magazine for 17 years and has written ten books on various health subjects for the general reader. He was formerly editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine ''Public Health Today'' and vice-chair of the Medical Journalists' Association (2010–11).

Musical career

His third career has been as a member of the comedy singing group

Instant Sunshine Instant Sunshine is a comedy musical cabaret group who sing to an acoustic guitar accompaniment. It was formed in 19662008-07-26 by three doctors at St Thomas' Hospital in London, Peter Christie, David Barlow and Alan Maryon-Davis. In 1972 they ...

since its foundation in 1966.Instant Sunshine webpage
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Selected list of works

*Coltart C, Maryon-Davis A, ''Epidemiology and Public Health. Chapter in Medicine for MRCP (Bessant R, ed)'', Oxford, OUP, 2020.
/ref> *Maryon-Davis A, ''Working with the media. Chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice, Fourth Edition (Kawachi I et al, ed)'', Oxford, OUP, 2020. *Maryon-Davis A, ''Government legislation and the restriction of personal freedoms. Chapter in: Beyond Behaviour Change: Key Issues, Interdisciplinary Approaches and Future Directions (Spottswood F, ed)'', Bristol, University of Bristol, 2016. *Maryon-Davis A, Press V; ''Easing the Pressure: tackling hypertension - A toolkit for developing a local strategy to tackle high blood pressure''; London, Faculty of Public Health and National Heart Forum; 2005. *Maryon-Davis A, ''Weight management in primary care: how can it be made more effective?'', Proc Nutr Soc., 2005 Feb;64(1):97-103. *Maryon-Davis A, Sarch L, Morris M, Laventure R; ''Let’s Get Moving - A Physical Activity Handbook for Developing Local Programmes''; London, Nat Heart Forum & Faculty of Public Health, 2001. *Maryon-Davis A, ''Non-cardiovascular benefits of exercise. Chapter in Marathon Medicine 2000 (Tunstall-Pedoe D, ed.)'', London, RSM Press, 2001. *Maryon-Davis A, Blake Q, ''Feeling Good! Easy Steps to Staying Healthy'', Age Concern Books, 2007 *Maryon-Davis A, ''Body Facts'', Macdonald, 1984 *Maryon-Davis Dr. A, ''Family Health & Fitness'', Octopus Books, 1981Amazon search page
/ref>

Sources

Faculty of Public HealthKing's College London page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maryon-Davis, Alan 21st-century British medical doctors 1943 births Living people People educated at St Paul's School, London Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Alumni of King's College London Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians