John Middleton has been Director for Public Health in Sandwell for 23 years. He has been joint director of public health between Sandwell Primary Care Trust and Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council since 2001. He managed a highly successful and award winning Joint Health and Wellbeing Unit with the Director of Adult Social Care and Health 2004-2010.

His principal interests are the economic influences on health, environmental health and sustainable development, community safety and prevention of violence. He is Honorary Reader in Public Health at Birmingham University. He leads theme 4, Housing and Health for the Birmingham Black Country Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLARHC –BBC). He is Vice president of the United Kingdom Faculty of Public Health and an occasional writer for the HSJ.