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| Membership and terms of reference |
Terms of reference
Membership
Ex Members
Secretariat
Terms of Reference
At the request of the Department of Health:
To advise the UK Health Departments on the effects
on health of both outdoor and indoor air pollutants on the basis of data
currently available; to assess the need for further research; and to liaise
as necessary with other Government bodies to assess the effects of exposure
and associated risks to human health.
Membership
Appointments are staggered and members can serve for 3 terms or
a maximum of 10 years from first appointment, dates of first appointment
are shown with the penpictures.
Current terms are:
Professors Ayers & Strachan appointed till 31.10.08;
Professors Derwent, Laxen, Harrison, Drs Stone & King appointed till
31.01.09;
Dr Armstrong, Professors Donaldson & Walters appointed till 31.07.10
Remuneration
Chair receives an attendance fee of £125 and a reading fee of £32
per meeting.
Members receive an attendance fee of £100 and a reading fee of £25.50
per meeting.
Chairman
Professor J G Ayres BSc MD FRCP FRCPE FFOM
Professor, Environment and Occupational Medicine, University of Aberdeen
Medical School
Professor Jon Ayres is a respiratory physician with a strong interest
in asthma and in the response of the lung to air pollutants. He has undertaken
research into the health effects of air pollution since the late 1980s
both epidemiologically and in studies involving controlled human exposures
in the laboratory. His work on the effects of exposure to carbon and sulphate
aerosol on heart rate variability has been important in assessing patients
with severe coronary artery disease rather than normal volunteers. He
also has a major interest in the indoor environment with a large programme
of work on the smoking bans in Scotland and England along with studies
of the effects of biomass exposure in Nepal on cardio-respiratory morbidity.
He is also chair of DEFRA's Advisory Committee on Pesticides and is a
member of DEFRA's Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards. First appointed
as chair of COMEAP on 2 November 2001 but a member since 1991.
Deputy Chairman
Professor David Strachan BA MB ChB MD MSc MRCGP FRCP FFPHM
Department of Public Health Medicine, St George's Hospital Medical School,
London
Professor David Strachan is an epidemiologist with a special interest
in respiratory and allergic diseases. His studies of the epidemiology
of hay fever led to the hypothesis that suggests that early exposure to
infection, via contact with siblings, protects against the development
of allergic diseases. He has played an important role in advising on the
use of health statistics in the study of the effects of exposure to indoor
and outdoor air pollutants. First appointed on 1 August 1998.
Members
Dr B Armstrong BA MSc PhD
Lecturer, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dr Benedict Armstrong is an epidemiologist with a special interest and
competence in statistics. He has been involved in a wide range of studies,
including those of the effects of PAH compounds that were central in the
setting of an air quality standard by DETR's (now DEFRA's) Expert Panel
on Air Quality Standards. First appointed on 1 August 2000.
Professor Dick Derwent OBE
Professor Dick Derwent OBE has spent much of his research career studying
atmospheric chemistry. Initially, this work was carried out in the Air
Pollution Division, Warren Spring Laboratory, Stevenage where he set up
monitoring networks for ozone, NOx, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.
He then spent a period of 16 years at the Harwell Laboratory building
models of stratospheric ozone depletion, tropospheric ozone build-up,
acid rain and ground level ozone formation. Having had a three year spell
as a research manager in the Department of Environment, he joined the
Meteorological Office. His main task there has been to build a global
three-dimensional model to describe acid rain, photochemical ozone formation
and the build up of greenhouse gases. He is the joint author of over 310
published papers dealing with acid rain, urban pollution, photochemical
smog and global atmospheric chemistry. He is Visiting Senior Scientist
at the Met Office, Honorary Professor in School of Geography and Environmental
Sciences at the University of Birmingham and Visiting Professor in the
Department of Environmental Science and Technology at Imperial College
London Faculty of Life Sciences. He was awarded the OBE in January 2001
in recognition of his contribution to atmospheric chemistry research at
the Met Office. First appointed on 1 June 2003.
Professor K Donaldson BSc PhD DSc FIBiol FRCPath FFOM
Colt Foundation Professorial Fellow ELEGI Colt Laboratory, University
of Edinburgh Medical School, Edinburgh
Professor Ken Donaldson is a pulmonary toxicologist and lung cell biologist
with a long-term research interest in how the lung responds to a range
of insults including particles and fibres. His work on ultrafine particles
has linked exposure to particles with free radical generation and the
increased activation of pro-inflammatory genes. Clarifying this pathway,
from particle to gene, has played an important part in our understanding
of particles toxicology. He was a co-author of the hypothesis linking
ultrafine particles and cardiovascular disease. First appointed on 1 August
2000.
Professor Roy Harrison, OBE
He has occupied the Chair of Environmental Health at the University of
Birmingham since 1991. He is Head of the Division of Environmental Health
and Risk Management and leads a large research group focussing on air
pollution issues from emissions, through atmospheric transformations,
to effects on human health. He is past Chair of the Department of Environment
Quality of Urban Air Review Group and DETR Airborne Particles Expert Group
and currently sits as a member of the DEFRA Advisory Committee on Hazardous
Substances, the Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards and Air Quality
Expert Group. First appointed on 1 February 2006.
Professor Stephen Holgate BSc, MD, DSc, FRCP, FRCPE, CBiol,
FIBiol, FRSA, FMedSci
Professor Holgate is currently a Medical Research Council Clinical
Professor at the University of Southampton with a special interest in
asthma and allergies. He has published over 400 peer reviewed papers on
the subject with a special focus on the mechanisms of the disorders. For
7 years he was Chairman of the Department of Health's Committee on the
Medical Effects of Air Pollutants and is currently a member of the Royal
Commission on Environmental Pollution.
Dr Tim J King MA, DPhil, Dip.Stat, CBiol, FIBiol, FRGS, FLS
Dr Tim King is a plant ecologist and author with statistical expertise,
interested in the effects of air pollution on plants. First appointed
on 1 February 2006.
Professor Duncan Laxen BSc, MSc, PhD
Managing Director of Air Quality Consultants Ltd, and visiting professor
in air quality management and assessment at the University of the West
of England, Bristol.
Professor Laxen is an air quality scientist with extensive experience
of air quality monitoring and assessment. He represents the interests
of Non-Governmental Organisation on the Steering Group and various Working
Groups of the European Commission to help with the implementation of the
Daughter Directives on ambient air quality monitoring and assessment.
He is a member of Defra’s Air Quality Expert Group. He has experience
of working as part of a team carrying out an epidemiological study of
the effect of lead on the behavior, ability and attainment of young children
in Edinburgh. First appointed on 1 June 2003.
Professor David H Phillips BA PhD Dsc FRCPath
Professor of Environmental Carcinogenesis,
Institute of Cancer Research. First appointed on 1 April 2006.
Further information
Professor P Poole-Wilson MB BChir (Camb) MA (Camb) BA MD FRCP FACC
National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College School of Medicine,
London
Professor Philip Poole-Wilson is a distinguished cardiologist with a special
interest in the physiology of the myocardium. His expertise has been helpful
in the interpretation of recent epidemiological findings that link air
pollution with hospital admissions for treatment of heart failure and
myocardial infarction. First appointed on 1 August 1998.
Dr Vicki Stone BSc PhD FIBiol Cbiol ILTM
Biomedicine Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Napier University,
Edinburgh.
Dr Vicki Stone is a molecular and pulmonary toxicologist who has a special
interest in the mechanism by which respirable dusts and chemicals induce
inflammation. Her recent studies have focused on identifying which components
of ambient particulate air pollution (PM10) are responsible for driving
inflammation. She has also studied the effects of ultrafine particles
on oxidative stress linked to cell signalling mechanisms, as well as the
molecular and inflammogenic effects of pathogenic particles such as quartz.
Her experience of collaboration with chemists, statisticians and epidemiologists
provides a strong basis for analysis and interpretation of cross disciplinary
information relating to air pollution issues. First appointed on 1 June
2003.
Professor D Walters BSc MB BS FRCP FRCPCH
Prof of Paediatrics, Department of Child Health, St George's Hospital
Medical School, London
Professor Dafydd Walters is a paediatrician with a strong research interest
in pulmonary physiology. He has long experience of research on the properties
of surfactant and the role that it and other factors play in controlling
water and ion flux across the blood-air barrier. First appointed on 1
August 2000.
Ex Members who attend meetings as their work is on-going
Professor H R Anderson MD MSc FFPHM
Department of Public Health Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School,
London
Professor Ross Anderson is an epidemiologist with a strong interest in
respiratory diseases. His work on asthma in the Highlands of New Guinea
led to work at the MRC Pneumoconiosis Unit at Penarth. He is a leading
figure in European air pollution studies and plays an important role in
the APHEA collaborative work. He is also a member of DEFRA’s Expert Panel
on Air Quality Standards.
J Fintan Hurley MA
Director of Data Sciences, Institute of Occupational Medicine Ltd
Fintan Hurley is a statistician and epidemiologist with long experience
of research into the effects of occupational exposure to particles and
fibres, especially coal mine dust. He has played an important role in
assisting DH officials in understanding the epidemiological methods currently
used to study the effects of air pollutants on health. His particular
interest is in quantifying health impacts of air pollution, including
assessing and representing uncertainty of the estimates. He is also a
member of DEFRA’s Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards. First appointed
on 1 August 1995.
Secretariat
Professor R L Maynard CBE BSc MB BCh FMRCP MRCPath FFOM FIBiol (HPA Medical)
Dr Heather Walton BSc DPhil (HPA Scientific)
Mrs Isabella Myers MSc (HPA Minutes Secretary)
Miss Inga Mills MSc (HPA Minutes Secretary)
Sue Kennedy (HPA Administrative)
Dr Louise Newport PhD (DH Sponsor)
Mr Andrew Whitcombe (DH)
Contact address
Sue Kennedy
Administrative Secretary
Health Protection Agency
Centre for Radiation and Chemical Hazards
Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division (Head Office)
Chilton,
Didcot,
Oxon
OX11 0RQ
Tel: +44 (0)1235 841475
Fax: +44 (0)1235 841478
Email: Sue.Kennedy@hpa.org.uk
DH Sponsors for appointments of members:
Dr Louise Newport PhD and Mr Andrew Whitcombe
Room 523,
Department of Health
Wellington House,
133 - 155 Waterloo Road,
London
SE1 8UG
Tel: +44 (0)20 7972 4454 Fax: +44 (0)20 7972 1001
Email: Andrew.Whitcombe@dh.gsi.gov.uk
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