Professor David R Harper CBE, FRSB, FFPH, Hon FRSPH

Professor David Ross Harper is the Managing Director of Harper Public Health Consulting Limited. He is also Senior Consulting Fellow at the Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security. Previously, David was Special Adviser to the Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment at the World Health Organization in Geneva, where his principal role was to advise on Global Preparedness for Health Security. Before March 2012, David was the Chief Scientist and Director General for Health Improvement and Protection in the UK Department of Health. He was responsible for protecting the population from risks posed by infectious diseases and environmental hazards; preparing for, and responding to, a range of health emergencies and disruptive challenges to health services; reducing the burden of conditions associated with poor lifestyles; and promoting health and wellbeing. He also held the international health and scientific development portfolios for the Department of Health. A scientist by training, David graduated in microbiology from the University of Dundee and gained his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Birmingham. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians, and an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health. He was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2002. He has honorary professorships at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Dundee, and an honorary Doctorate of Science from Cranfield University, where he is also a visiting Professor.