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| Membership and terms of reference |
Membership
Lay Members
Terms of reference
Secretariat
Membership
Chairman: Professor J G Ayres BSc MD FRCP FRCPE FFOM
Professor, Environment and Occupational Medicine, University of Aberdeen
Medical School
Professor Jon Ayres is a respiratory physician with a strong interest
in asthma and in the response of the lung to air pollutants. His work
on the series of Birmingham Panel Studies designed to investigate the
effects of air pollutants on health is well known. His recent studies
of the effects of exposure to sulphate aerosol on heart rate variability
has generated great interest and may be important in explaining the differential
responses to air pollutants seen in normal subjects and in subjects suffering
from asthma. He is also a member of DEFRA�s Expert Panel on Air Quality
Standards.
Deputy Chairman: Professor David Strachan BA MB ChB MD MSc
MRCGP FRCP FFPHM
Department of Public Health Medicine, St George's Hospital Medical School,
London
Professor David Strachan is an epidemiologist with a special interest
in respiratory and allergic diseases. His studies of the epidemiology
of hay fever led to the hypothesis that suggests that early exposure to
infection, via contact with siblings, protects against the development
of allergic diseases. He has played an important role in advising on the
use of health statistics in the study of the effects of exposure to indoor
and outdoor air pollutants.
Professor H R Anderson MD MSc FFPHM
Department of Public Health Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School,
London
Professor Ross Anderson is an epidemiologist with a strong interest in
respiratory diseases. His work on asthma in the Highlands of New Guinea
led to work at the MRC Pneumoconiosis Unit at Penarth. He is a leading
figure in European air pollution studies and plays an important role in
the APHEA collaborative work. He is also a member of DEFRA�s Expert Panel
on Air Quality Standards.
Dr B Armstrong BA MSc PhD
Lecturer, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dr Benedict Armstrong is an epidemiologist with a special interest and
competence in statistics. He has been involved in a wide range of studies,
including those of the effects of PAH compounds that were central in the
setting of an air quality standard by DETR's (now DEFRA's) Expert Panel
on Air Quality Standards.
Professor Peter G Blain MB BS PhD FRCP FFOM
Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine
University of Newcastle
Professor Peter Blain is a clinical toxicologist and a physician specialising
in occupational medicine. He chairs the DH committee on carcinogenicity
and brings his special knowledge of this area to COMEAP. He has long experience
in advising on the toxicological effects of a range of compounds including
those of the organophosphorus group. He is also a member of DEFRA�s Expert
Panel on Air Quality Standards.
Professor Dick Derwent OBE
Professor Dick Derwent OBE has spent much of his research career studying
atmospheric chemistry. Initially, this work was carried out in the Air
Pollution Division, Warren Spring Laboratory, Stevenage where he set up
monitoring networks for ozone, NOx, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.
He then spent a period of 16 years at the Harwell Laboratory building
models of stratospheric ozone depletion, tropospheric ozone build-up,
acid rain and ground level ozone formation. Having had a three year spell
as a research manager in the Department of Environment, he joined the
Meteorological Office. His main task there has been to build a global
three-dimensional model to describe acid rain, photochemical ozone formation
and the build up of greenhouse gases. He is the joint author of over 310
published papers dealing with acid rain, urban pollution, photochemical
smog and global atmospheric chemistry. He is Visiting Senior Scientist
at the Met Office, Honorary Professor in School of Geography and Environmental
Sciences at the University of Birmingham and Visiting Professor in the
Department of Environmental Science and Technology at Imperial College
London Faculty of Life Sciences. He was awarded the OBE in January 2001
in recognition of his contribution to atmospheric chemistry research at
the Met Office.
Professor K Donaldson BSc PhD DSc FIBiol FRCPath FFOM
Colt Foundation Professorial Fellow ELEGI Colt Laboratory, University
of Edinburgh Medical School, Edinburgh
Professor Ken Donaldson is a pulmonary toxicologist and lung cell biologist
with a long-term research interest in how the lung responds to a range
of insults including particles and fibres. His work on ultrafine particles
has linked exposure to particles with free radical generation and the
increased activation of pro-inflammatory genes. Clarifying this pathway,
from particle to gene, has played an important part in our understanding
of particles toxicology. He was a co-author of the hypothesis linking
ultrafine particles and cardiovascular disease.
Professor Stephen Holgate BSc, MD, DSc, FRCP, FRCPE, CBiol,
FIBiol, FRSA, FMedSci
Professor Holgate is currently a Medical Research Council Clinical
Professor at the University of Southampton with a special interest in
asthma and allergies. He has published over 400 peer reviewed papers on
the subject with a special focus on the mechanisms of the disorders. For
7 years he was Chairman of the Department of Health's Committee on the
Medical Effects of Air Pollutants and is currently a member of the Royal
Commission on Environmental Pollution
J Fintan Hurley MA
Director of Data Sciences, Institute of Occupational Medicine Ltd
Fintan Hurley is a statistician and epidemiologist with long experience
of research into the effects of occupational exposure to particles and
fibres, especially coal mine dust. He has played an important role in
assisting DH officials in understanding the epidemiological methods currently
used to study the effects of air pollutants on health. His particular
interest is in quantifying health impacts of air pollution, including
assessing and representing uncertainty of the estimates. He is also a
member of DEFRA�s Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards.
Professor Duncan Laxen BSc, MSc, PhD
Managing Director of Air Quality Consultants Ltd, and visiting professor
in air quality management and assessment at the University of the West
of England, Bristol. Professor Laxen is an air quality scientist with
extensive experience of air quality monitoring and assessment. He represents
the interests of Non-Governmental Organisation on the Steering Group and
various Working Groups of the European Commission to help with the implementation
of the Daughter Directives on ambient air quality monitoring and assessment.
He is a member of Defra�s Air Quality Expert Group. He has experience
of working as part of a team carrying out an epidemiological study of
the effect of lead on the behavior, ability and attainment of young children
in Edinburgh.
Professor P Poole-Wilson MB BChir (Camb) MA (Camb) BA MD FRCP FACC
National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College School of Medicine,
London
Professor Philip Poole-Wilson is a distinguished cardiologist with a special
interest in the physiology of the myocardium. His expertise has been helpful
in the interpretation of recent epidemiological findings that link air
pollution with hospital admissions for treatment of heart failure and
myocardial infarction.
Dr Vicki Stone BSc PhD FIBiol Cbiol ILTM
Biomedicine Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Napier University,
Edinburgh. Dr Vicki Stone is a molecular and pulmonary toxicologist who
has a special interest in the mechanism by which respirable dusts and
chemicals induce inflammation. Her recent studies have focused on identifying
which components of ambient particulate air pollution (PM10) are responsible
for driving inflammation. She has also studied the effects of ultrafine
particles on oxidative stress linked to cell signalling mechanisms, as
well as the molecular and inflammogenic effects of pathogenic particles
such as quartz. Her experience of collaboration with chemists, statisticians
and epidemiologists provides a strong basis for analysis and interpretation
of cross disciplinary information relating to air pollution issues.
Professor D Walters BSc MB BS FRCP FRCPCH
Prof of Paediatrics, Department of Child Health, St George's Hospital
Medical School, London
Professor Dafydd Walters is a paediatrician with a strong research interest
in pulmonary physiology. He has long experience of research on the properties
of surfactant and the role that it and other factors play in controlling
water and ion flux across the blood-air barrier.
Lay Members
Dr Tim J King MA, DPhil, Dip.Stat, CBiol, FIBiol, FRGS, FLS
Dr Tim King is a plant ecologist and author with statistical expertise,
interested in the effects of air pollution on plants.
Terms of Reference
At the request of the Department of Health:
To advise the UK Health Departments on the effects
on health of both outdoor and indoor air pollutants on the basis of data
currently available; to assess the need for further research; and to liaise
as necessary with other Government bodies to assess the effects of exposure
and associated risks to human health.
Secretariat
Scientific
Dr Heather Walton BSc DPhil
Room 659C Skipton House
80 London Road
Elephant and Castle
London SE1 6LH
Tel No: 020 7972 5318
Fax No: 020 7972 5167
e-mail: Heather.Walton@doh.gsi.gov.uk
Medical
Dr R L Maynard CBE BSc MB BCh FMRCP MRCPath FFOM FIBiol
Department of Health
Room 658C Skipton House
80 London Road
Elephant and Castle
London SE1 6LH
Tel No: 020 7972 5118
Fax No: 020 7972 5167
e-mail: Robert.Maynard@doh.gsi.gov.uk
Minutes Secretary
Ms Isabella Myers MSc
Department of Health
Room 692D, Skipton House
80 London Road
Elephant and Castle
London SE1 6LH
Tel No: 020 7972 5679
Fax No: 020 7972 5167
e-mail: Isabella.Myers@doh.gsi.gov.uk
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