E34 - Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam

Training in Public Health (TiPH)

Episode 2 of our special series in partnership with the Faculty of Public Health where we explore one key question - What is Public Health?

It may seem like a simple question, but Public Health is no single thing. The aim of the series is to shine a light on the breadth of Public Health and the challenges ahead by talking to key figures in the field.

This episode we sat down with Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam. Sir Jonathan Van-Tam is a Professor of Health Protection at the University of Nottingham and the former Deputy Chief Medical Officer.

Jonathan completed his medical training at the University of Nottingham, where he became a senior lecturer. He joined SmithKline Beecham in 2000 as an associate director. He has over two decades experience in health protection and infectious diseases through his previous roles as the head of pandemic influenza at the health protection agency, chairing the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control expert advisory group on h5n1 vaccines and chair of the UK government’s new and emerging respiratory virus threats advisory group.

Professor Van Tam received an MBE in 1998 and was knighted in the 2022 New Years honours list. He was awarded the David Attenborough award by the Royal Society for outstanding public engagement with science. And was also awarded the Freedom of Boston award in 2022 by his local community.

CHAPTERS (00:00) Teaser and Introduction (02:40) Inspiration to go into a public health (06:52) Jonathan's mentor in public health (08:53) What is Public Health? (10:50) Collecting public health lenses across sectors (18:28) Translating public health across sectors (20:25) Dealing with public attention (25:00) Communication and analogies in public health (33:42) Politics and public health (35:50) Public health challenges ahead

(37:55) Jonathan's career regret

(39:50) One career tips for those training in public health