The UK-REACH Scientific Steering Committee
Azeem Majeed
Chair - Primary Care and Public Health & Head of Department, Imperial College London
I am Professor of Primary Care and Public Health, and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London. I am also an NIHR Senior Investigator. I qualified at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff, Wales. I am accredited in both General Practice and Public Health Medicine. I began my academic career at St. George's Hospital Medical School as a Lecturer in Epidemiology & Public Health Medicine. I was later promoted to Senior Lecturer in Primary Care. I then moved to a Senior Lecturer post at University College London, where I had a joint appointment between the School of Public Policy and the Department of Primary Care & Population Sciences. In 2000, I gained a five-year primary care senior scientist award, which allowed me to spend more time on research. I was promoted to Professor by University College London in 2002. I took up the post of Professor of Primary Care and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London in 2004.
Joan Saddler
Associate Director of Patients and Communities at the NHS Confederation.
She was formerly National Director of Patient and Public Affairs based within the Patient and Public Engagement and Experience Division at the Department of Health. Areas of responsibility included NHS and 3rd sector liaison, complaints, local involvement networks (LINks) and transition to Healthwatch. As a former PCT Chair and Mental Health trust Non Executive Joan also brings a governance lens to her work along with her experience as a Chief Executive within the community and voluntary sector. Joan was awarded an OBE for services to Health and Diversity in 2007. Her experience informs her role working with the Chief Executive of NHS England as Co-Chairs of the NHS Equality and Diversity Council.
Lucinda Platt
Professor of Social Policy and Sociology, London School of Economics
Lucinda Platt is Professor of Social Policy and Sociology in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She joined the Department in 2013 from UCL Institute of Education, where she was Director of the Millennium Cohort Study. Lucinda enjoys teaching on topics relating to migration, ethnicity, disability, and income, poverty and social mobility at undergraduate and MSc level; and she supervises many PhD students in these areas. Lucinda’s research focuses on the analysis of inequality within and between social groups, in the UK and internationally; and she is currently a panel member for the IFS Deaton Inequality Review. As part of her work for the Deaton Review, she recently co-authored a study investigating ethnic inequalities in vulnerability to COVID-19. She also works on identity and inter-group relations, child poverty and child development, and the methodology and history of social surveys.
Manish Pareek
Associate Clinical Professor in Infectious Diseases, University of Leicester
Dr Pareek is a clinical academic with international expertise in developing and delivering public health research programmes in infectious diseases, migrant health and ethnic minority health. He is applying his research expertise to understanding the risks of COVID-19 in ethnic minorities and other underserved populations. Dr Pareek is part of a team that has highlighted that only 7% of all reports into COVID-19 deaths have recorded ethnicity and that none of the ten highest COVID-19 case-notifying countries have reported ethnicity-related data. In the UK there has been a disproportionate number of deaths amongst healthcare workers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and recent Intensive Care Unit data indicates that a disproportionate number of patients are from said backgrounds. Dr Pareek is calling for policy-makers to ensure ethnicity is reported so that if it is linked to adverse COVID-19 outcomes the appropriate public health interventions can be put in place to support these groups.
Miqdad Asaria
Assistant Professorial Research Fellow - London School of Economics-Health
Miqdad is a health economist with extensive experience in both academic and policy making settings. His research interests include health inequalities, health financing, healthcare prioritisation and healthcare management with a particular focus on the health systems in India and the UK. He currently holds a fellowship from The Health Foundation to investigate the role of management on hospital performance. He employs methods from health econometrics, cost-effectiveness analysis and micro-simulation modelling in his research.