Vice-Chancellor, University of Southampton
Professor Nutbeam’s career has spanned positions in universities, government, health services and an independent research institute. In October 2009 he took up the position of Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton.
From 2006-2009 he was Provost of the University of Sydney. Prior to being appointed as Provost, he was the University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Health Sciences) from September 2003. In this position, he was Head of the College of Health Sciences, comprising the Faculties of Medicine, Health Sciences, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy.
For the period 2000–2003, he was Head of Public Health in the UK government Department of Health. In this role he was responsible for leading policy development within the Department and across government on a range of complex and large-scale public health challenges. He was also responsible for the development of the public health workforce across the whole of England, and public health research and information strategies.
Between 1990 and 2000, he was Professor of Public Health, Associate Dean of Medicine and Head of the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney. His early career in the UK included roles in the NHS, an independent research institute and government health agency.
His research interests have included public health intervention research in schools and communities as well as studies of health literacy, and adolescent health behaviour. More recently, he has combined his academic and policy experience to examine the uses of evidence in policy-making. He is author of more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as two popular public health text books. He remains research active through three MRC funded projects/programs, and PhD student supervision.
He has substantial international experience in both developing and developed countries, working as an advisor and consultant for the World Health Organisation over a 20 year period, and as consultant and team leader in projects for the World Bank. In his role as Head of Public Health for the UK Department of Health, he represented UK public health interests in the European Union, and in bi-lateral agreements with the USA.