Fiona Sim trained in both general practice and public health and has held senior roles in public health, NHS management, education and the civil service. She has had a longstanding focus on building capacity and capability to improve health and reduce inequalities, including leading the establishment of voluntary regulation of public health specialists while at the English Department of Health. She is a former Chair of the Royal Society for Public Health, and was joint Editor-in-Chief of Public Health for 20 years until 2020. She was awarded an OBE for services to public health in 2015. Jenny Wright’s career spanned social work, research, NHS planning and management before she entered public health. She qualified as a specialist in public health in the early 2000s as soon as this was made possible for those from backgrounds other than medicine and ran a highly successful public health consultancy within the NHS. The latter part of her career was devoted to public health workforce development, focusing on developing the first UK-wide competence framework applicable to the whole public health workforce. She also led the work to develop and run the first UK public health careers website.
"""Whether working in national government, local government, academia, the NHS, internationally or the wider health system, public health is a great career. It is possible to move between different parts of the system far more easily than many other areas of health, allowing for intellectual and practical variety. If you are thinking of moving into public health this book allows you to see some of the breadth, excitement and impact on improving the health of society that can follow."" Professor Christopher Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England (from the Foreword to the new edition)"