Speakers' biographies

Professor Chris Bentley FRCP, FFPH

Chris qualified in Medicine at University College Hospital, London in 1977, and worked in London Teaching Hospitals until 1981, having achieved Membership of the Royal College of Physicians. There then followed seven years in Somalia, initially working in the refugee health programme, with Save the Children Fund, and subsequently developing village-based health care with UNICEF, completing the tour as Advisor to the Somali Government on Primary Health Care. Returning to London in 1989, he trained in Public Health in Bloomsbury and the London School of Hygiene.

On receiving Membership of the Faculty of Public Health, Chris was appointed Director of Public Health in Worthing, and kept the Directors job as three Districts merged up to form West Sussex Health Authority. In 1998, he moved to become DPH in Sheffield and the challenge of inner-city public health. He became director of Public Health for South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority on its formation in 2002.

In 2006, following successes in reducing health inequalities in his area, Chris was asked to head up the National Support Team for Health Inequalities. Still based in Yorkshire, now with NHS Yorkshire and Humber, he was awarded a Visiting Chair in Public Health at Sheffield Hallam University in 2007.

Phil Hope MP

Phil Hope was elected Member of Parliament for Corby and East Northamptonshire in 1997 and was appointed Minister for the Third Sector in June 2007. As of January 2008 he is also Minister for the East Midlands.

Previous to this, he was the Minister for Skills at the Department for Education and Skills from May 2005-June 2007. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister and to Nick Raynsford as Minister of State for Housing and Planning. Phil was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) in June 2003 with responsibility for building regulations, regulatory and public sector reform, e-local government, the Fire Service College and the Local Government Pension Scheme. At ODPM he also supported the Minister for Local Government, regional governance and fire, Nick Raynsford.

He was elected to Kettering Borough Council during the 1980s and Northamptonshire County Council between 1993 and 1997 where he chaired the Equal Opportunities Committee.
Formerly a teacher at Kettering School for Boys, he has also been:

a youth policy adviser to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Head of the Young Volunteer Resources Unit at the National Youth Bureau
a management consultant to not-for-profit organisations.

Phil Hope was educated at Wandsworth Comprehensive School and St Luke's College, Exeter. He is married with two children.

For more information on Phil Hope please see: www.goem.gov.uk/goem/our-region/657145/?a=42496

Peter Murphy

Peter Murphy has a joint appointment at ODPM and GOEM. He is the Regional Director of Local Government Practice for the East Midlands and DCLG. He is responsible for co-ordinating the Local Area Agreement programme in the Government Office for the Region.

Prior to joining the civil service in Nov 2000 he spent over 20 years working in Local Authorities, most recently as the Chief Executive of Melton Borough Council in Leicestershire. He had managerial responsibility for economic development in his previous four authorities.

Dr David Walker

Dr David Walker is the Regional Director of Public Health for the East Midlands. He was previously the Acting Regional Director of Public Health for the North East.

He was also director of public health for County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority until it merged with and Northumberland Tyne and Wear.

David trained in medicine in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and has worked in the North East since qualifying in 1987 – apart from three spells abroad. These included two years as visiting scientist at the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA.

While there he developed new analytic tools and contributed to the health protection programme for the Olympic Games held in the city.

Nottingham-born David, 43, worked as a physician in infectious disease medicine before specialising in public health.

He grew up in Aspley and Wollaton and attended Nottingham High School before studying medicine in Newcastle.

He has been published widely in the fields of infectious disease epidemiology, risk management and data analysis methodology.