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Board of Trustees

ASH is governed by a Board of Trustees of twelve people. The ASH Board of Trustees is made up of a wealth of experience and knowledge in the tobacco control field. Its members are chosen at our Annual General Meeting by an Advisory Council of more than 70 eminent people from fields such as medicine, public health, public relations and politics. Visit here for more information on the ASH Advisory Council.

Professor Sanjay Agrawal

Professor Sanjay Agrawal is a Consultant in Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. Treating tobacco dependency effectively in the NHS has been a key focus as well as wider tobacco control measures. Dr Agrawal chairs the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group.

Dr Somen Banerjee

Somen is Director of Public Health (DPH) at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. He is also DPH lead for tobacco for the London Network. He has worked in Tower Hamlets for over ten years. He completed his public health training in Oxford where he gained experience working with the World Health Organisation, Department of Health, National Institute for Clinical Excellence, Public Health Observatories and the British Heart Foundation Academic Unit in Oxford University.

Kate Harrison (Treasurer)

Kate Harrison is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the ICAEW. She has worked in charity finance since 2007 and is currently Head of Financial Accounting and Control at the British Heart Foundation.

Professor Nicholas Hopkinson MA PhD FRCP (Chair)

Nicholas Hopkinson is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine at The National Heart and Lung Institute of Imperial College and an Honorary Consultant Chest Physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital. His research focuses on addressing exercise and activity limitation in COPD in areas including pulmonary physiology and lung volume reduction, skeletal muscle impairment and pulmonary rehabilitation. He has chaired the British Thoracic Society COPD Specialist Advisory Group and is Medical Director of Asthma + Lung UK.

Dr Debbie Robson

Debbie is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London. Her current role involves the development, implementation and evaluation of tobacco dependence treatment initiatives for people with a mental health condition and/ or substance use disorder who smoke.

Dr Helen Walters

Dr Helen Walters is Public Health Consultant Advisor for the NIHR and is based at Southampton University. She focuses on the funding of research that is relevant to Public Health practice, particularly in local government. Helen brings extensive experience of coal-face Public Health practice having led the Health Team for the Mayor of London, been Director of Public Health for the City of Westminster and a Consultant in Public Health in Portsmouth. She has been a GP partner and an elected member in her district council. Helen is the Tobacco lead for the UK Faculty of Public Health and a trustee of St Mungo’s.

Rachael Murray

Rachael Murray is a Professor of Population Health in the School of Medicine, University of Nottingham and specialises in tobacco control research in multiple health settings. Rachael is a member of the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Tobacco Control and Smoking Cessation Committee.

Dr Anthony Laverty

Dr Anthony Laverty is a Senior Lecturer in the Public Health Policy Evaluation Unit in the Department of Primary Care & Public Health. His research focuses on evaluations of tobacco control policy, both in the UK and globally. Examples of his work include an assessment of the child health impacts of banning smoking in cars as well as a WHO report on the potential for tobacco control to enhance childhood development.

Jane Ellison

Jane has worked in the private sector, UK politics and the United Nations. She worked for the John Lewis Partnership for over 20 years before entering Parliament in 2010. As Public Health Minister Jane led on legislation including the ban on smoking in cars with children present and the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco. Jane joined the World Health Organization in 2017 and served for five years in the senior leadership team in Geneva, from 2019 as Executive Director, External Relations and Governance.