Doctor Ian Basnett is Director of Public Health for NHS East London and the City. In that role he is responsible for reducing the burden of ill-health and improving outcomes for the population. He ensures the smooth transition of public health to local authorities and elsewhere as well as develop effective collaboration across East London. He is also passionate about addressing the underlying determinants of ill-health, including poverty as well as developing interventions to support people to lead healthier lives and reduce health inequalities.

He trained in medicine in East London and is an experienced public health practitioner: In 1997 he was a Harkness Fellow and spent a year at UCSF looking at the impact of managed care on disadvantaged populations and he has been a director of public health in Camden and Islington as well as Tower Hamlets.

Following a disability from a sports accident he has been an advocate for disabled people’s rights. He is a member of the Joseph Rowntree Strategy Groups on both poverty and social exclusion.