Usher Institute

New appointment: Professor Linda Bauld

We are delighted to announce that Professor Linda Bauld has been appointed Bruce and John Usher Chair of Public Health at the Usher Institute.

Linda Bauld, Bruce and John Usher Professor of Public Health
Linda Bauld, Bruce and John Usher Professor of Public Health

Linda joins us from the University of Stirling, where she has been Dean of Research (Impact), Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Institute for Social Marketing. She is also Deputy Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, a UK Clinical Research Collaboration Centre for Public Health Excellence covering 13 Universities. Since August 2014 she has also held the post of Cancer Research UK (CRUK)'s cancer prevention champion, the CRUK/BUPA Chair in Behavioural Research for Cancer Prevention. Linda is a behavioural scientist with a PhD in social policy.

Her research focuses on two main areas: the evaluation of complex public health interventions; and the use of evidence to inform health policy. She has conducted studies on drug and alcohol use, inequalities in health , overweight and obesity, and, most notably, on smoking cessation and tobacco control. She has led numerous studies on interventions and policies to prevent smoking uptake, promote smoking cessation and encourage tobacco harm reduction. She served as the UK government's scientific adviser on tobacco control from 2006 to 2010 and is the current President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Europe. In 2017 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh for her contribution to cancer prevention and public health.

Linda will continue her work with CRUK, and will be based at the Usher Institute part-time from 1 November 2018. 

We look forward to welcoming Linda to join us here in Edinburgh.