I’ve a degree in Medicine MBChB from the University of Leicester, an MSc in environmental epidemiology and a PhD in public and environmental health and policy, both from the one of the leading international public health schools, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

I’ve been thinking and working on public health issues for over 30 years, with a focus on health impact assessment, healthy urban design and healthy policy for over 20 years. I've loved every minute of it!

I started Public Health by Design after heading the Institute of Occupational Medicine’s Centre for Health Impact Assessment for 7 years and setting up the health impact assessment team at Peter Brett Associates (now part of Stantec). Early in my career I did a secondment at the then Wales Centre for Health on an EU funded research project on Health in EIA. I started my journey in HIA with Ben Cave of Ben Cave Associates. I deepened my knowledge and skill through working with Martin Birley of BirleyHIA and Robert Bos.

I’ve undertaken HIAs around the world, on policies, programmes, plans and projects, and on many sectors  - urban, transport, energy, extractives, water and sanitation, waste, health services. Some of this has been linked to doing healthy proofing reviews of masterplans and design schemes. I’ve also undertaken reviews of organisational policies and processes as well as healthy policy reviews of national and regional policies.

I’ve worked with many of the biggest companies and consultancies internationally. I’ve also worked directly with local and national governments and international development institutions such as the World Health Organization, the Asian Development Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

I’ve led and co-authored a number of internationally-recognised health impact assessment guides. Most notably the HIA Greenspace Guide for Greenspace Scotland and Health Scotland. The HIA Good Practice Guide for the International Council for Mining and Metals. The HIA Sourcebook for the Asian Development Bank and the HIA Guidelines for the Petroleum Sector for the Government of Kenya.

I am a part-time senior lecturer in public health at the University of West London, an Honorary Fellow of Staffordshire University and Adjunct Lecturer at the University of South Wales for my expertise in health assessment, healthy design and healthy policy.

I am a former co-Chair of the Health Section of the International Association for Impact Assessment; a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, an Associate of the Faculty of Public Health; an affiate of the UK Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment; a member of the Transport and Health Science Group; a member of the Town and Country Planning Association, and an Editorial Board member for Environmental Impact Assessment Review.

Partners and Associates

Our core team is supported by two additional staff members supporting project coordination, management, finances and business development. We also have an extensive network of partners who we bring in on a project-by-project basis to supply the most relevant expertise to our clients.

We have worked and partnered with public health specialists, Ben Cave Associates (before PHD)  BirleyHIA, Robert Bos, IEH Consulting, UNSW Centre for Health Equity, Training, Research and Evaluation, and Daniel Black + Associates.

Alumni

Filipe Silva

Filipe is a medical doctor with an MSc in Public Health and over 10 years of experience in public health, HIA and development in a range settings and clients.

Filipe has worked full time on HIA, healthy urban planning and healthy public policy from 2014-2021. He has undertaken more than 30 HIAs in different sectors - transport, energy, extractives, urban planning, water and sanitation - and in different socio-economic and development contexts within Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Australia.

He has integrated and supported coordination of international HIA teams developing HIA, and health in EIA, systems in six countries and providing capacity building to authorities at the national and provincial levels.

Filipe has training on EIA, SEA, geographical information systems and quantitative risk assessment, especially on the health impacts of outdoor air pollution.

Filipe is registered with the Portuguese Medical Association and is a member of the International Association for Impact Assessment.

Filipe stepped down from Public Health By Design in January 2022 to pursue new opportunities in the United States with his family.