The Institute of Health Equity Team
Professor Sir Michael Marmot is the Director of the Institute of Health Equity.
More information about Michael
Jessica and Michael have worked together since 2011 to build the IHE and strengthen action on health equity and the social determinants across the UK and around the world. In her role as Deputy Director she has shaped the strategic direction of the Institute and overseen its work and development. She has worked closely with international organisations, national and local governments, businesses and the economic sector, third sector organisations and public health and health care systems. She has published widely on the social determinants of health and led much of the Institute’s work.
She leads the IHE’s work with global organisations including the UN, leading the current WHO Special Initiative, UNAIDS, and led the production of WHO regional health equity reports including the Eastern Mediterranean Region Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas and the Review of Social Determinants of Health and the Health Divide in the WHO European Region. She was co-author of the 2010 Marmot Review Fair Society, Healthy Lives, the 2020 Marmot Review 10 Years On report and Build Back Fairer: The COVID-19 Marmot review. Jessica has also been involved in national reviews including most recently for Norway, Hong Kong and Taiwan and is also involved with Marmot Places in the UK. She has led many of the Institute’s evidence reviews on a wide range of social determinants of health and health inequality assessments.
She is a member of several advisory groups in England and internationally. Prior to her work at IHE she was head of Health and Social Care at IPPR, Research Fellow in Public Health at the Kings Fund, and worked at UNICEF and the London School of Economics. She has published and broadcast widely and holds a doctorate from the University of London.
As well as his role in the Institute of Health Equity, Peter Goldblatt is a statistical advisor to the UK Department of Health and Social Care and an expert advisor to WHO European Office. His main activities are in the field of measurement and monitoring and contributing to European and other international project to review and monitor the social determinants of health.
He was previously the Chief Medical Statistician at the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS). He was seconded from ONS to UCL for the duration of the Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England post-2010 (the Marmot Review). Following this review, he co-ordinated reviews of health inequalities in the WHO European Region, for WHO, and a review of health inequalities in European, for the European Commission (EC).
He has subsequently contributed to several other projects, including European Parliament pilot projects, an EC project on drivers of health inequality, a UNDP project on inequalities in health and its determinants, , a review of equity and health inequalities in the Americas, a review of 10 years on since the Marmot Review, a review of non-communicable diseases in Belgium, reviews of health inequalities in Norway and in local areas in England and several projects on the unequal impact of COVID-19 and its containment measures.
Dr Angela Donkin is a Senior Consultant and social scientist at the IHE. A leading expert on inequalities, she has extensive experience managing research, evaluation, and analysis projects in social policy areas such as early years, education, and work.
Before returning to the IHE in 2023, Angela was the Chief Social Scientist at the National Foundation for Educational Research. Her career includes senior positions in central government, where she worked on pension policy and led the cross-departmental health, work, and wellbeing unit at the Department for Work and Pensions. She also led the secretariat for the Graham Allen reviews on Early Intervention.
Head of Communications
Felicity works across communications, strategy and advocacy, including media relations. Former BBC Journalist, Which? campaigner and award winning communications strategist, Felicity Porritt has worked with Michael Marmot since 2007. She launched Fair Society, Healthy Lives February 2010 and the World Health Organization's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health final report in 2008, which won Communique's Best International Media Relations Campaign 'highly commended'. In February 2020, she co-ordinated the launch event of the Health Equity in England: Marmot Review 10 Years On report.
Felicity has worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization both in Geneva (Equity and Health Team, within the Department of Social Determinants of Health) and in Venice (European Office for Investment for Health and Development). Prior to working at IHE, Felicity drew up and managed the communications strategy behind the headline hitting coverage of the World Cancer Research Fund's landmark report on cancer prevention in November 2007. The launch won 'Best Healthcare Campaign' from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in 2008. Felicity holds a BA in Politics and Economics from Loughborough University, and an MSc in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health from Bristol University.
Health Equity Network Lead
Alan is the lead for the IHE Health Equity Network. The network was launched in January 2023 with the aim of providing a platform for people working in health equity across the UK to connect with each other and to support the further development of a UK movement for health equity. In a separate but related role, Alan is working with Cheshire and Merseyside Public Health Network as strategic lead on implementation of the area’s Marmot programme, All Together Fairer.
Alan comes to both roles after extensive experience working as a Director of Public Health in both the NHS and local government. He was Director of Public Health in Oldham from 2002 to 2018, leading the transition of public health from the NHS into local government and in the development of the Greater Manchester devolved public health programme. After two years working in Liverpool City Region to develop the Wealth and Wellbeing Programme Alan worked during the Covid pandemic as a Programme Director for NW PHE/UKHS.
Finance and Project Coordinator
Luke manages all finances and budgets for the institute. Prior to this he worked for the Medical Research Council Head Office as a grants administrator and then most recently as manager of the grants payment team. He has a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Manchester.
Senior Researcher
Antia is interested in looking at how public policies can be used to reduce health inequalities by acting on the social determinants of health. She is also keen on increasing public understanding and generating awareness of inequalities in health.
Since joining the IHE in 2022, Antia has co-authored the Rapid review of inequalities in health and wellbeing in Norway since 2014; Health inequalities in Hong Kong: A Lifecourse Approach and The Environment and Health Inequalities in Hong Kong. She has contributed to the World Health Organization (WHO) World Report on Social Determinants of Health Equity (2025) and to the UNAIDS Global Council on Inequalities, AIDS and Pandemics (2024-2025).
She previously worked as a researcher focusing on employment-related health inequalities for the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (2008) and has consulted for the Health Promotion and Social Determinants of Health Unit at the Pan American Health Organization.
Antia holds a degree in Political Science, an MSc in Social Epidemiology (UCL) and an MA in Journalism.
Researcher and Executive Assistant to Professor Sir Michael Marmot
Since joining the IHE in 2022 Scarlet has contributed to a variety of projects, including working in several Marmot Places. She was a primary researcher on the evidence review on Structural Racism, Ethnicity and Health Inequalities in London for the Greater London Authority, published in autumn 2024.
Currently, Scarlet is working across a number of Marmot Places, including Oxfordshire, Wokingham and East Suffolk, producing reports and recommendations for local action on health inequalities and the social determinants of health.
Scarlet also works as Executive Assistant to Professor Sir Michael Marmot providing administrative support.
Scarlet holds a BA in Philosophy from UCL and is currently pursuing an MSc in Public Mental Health from Queen Mary, University of London.
Researcher
Jamaica has a BA in International Relations from Queen Mary University of London and an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics.
Since joining the IHE in 2022, Jamaica has worked on a number of projects. She jointly led the production of an evidence review on interventions on the social determinants of health for the World Health Organization (WHO). She also led the evidence review on Skills and Health Inequalities in London as well as an evidence review on Structural Racism for the Greater London Authority. She is also involved in a programme of work for Legal & General exploring the role of the development industry in building health equity, and is leading a report on Inclusive Economies for the North of Tyne Combined Authority.
Owen works as a research assistant with the IHE. He has been involved with the IHE’s work in Leeds, Gwent, Greater London, Waltham Forest, Lancashire and Cumbria, and Cheshire and Merseyside. Owen has a BA in Politics and Philosophy from the University of Reading.
Researcher & Health Equity Network Coordinator
Benjamin has a MSc in International Health and a BSc in Medical Sciences from the University of Leeds.
Benjamin started work as a researcher at the Institute of Health Equity in September 2024, focussing on the development of Marmot Places in Scottish cities and Kings Lynn & West Norfolk, aiming to address health inequalities at different levels across the country. Benjamin will also be helping to maintain and develop the health equity network, whilst also conducting data analysis for the institute.
Senior Researcher: Marmot Places
Alicia Phillips joined IHE in 2024, working with Marmot Places and leading the Marmot Places Networking Group.
Alicia has worked in the Public Health team at Coventry City Council since 2018, leading the inequalities team and the pioneering work of Coventry as the first Marmot City. She has extensive experience in leading partnership working, having also worked in the Health and Further Education sector on children and young people, communities, and inequality.
Alicia holds a BA (Hons) in Youth and Community Work and a Master's degree in Public Health from the University of Birmingham.
Senior Researcher
Lauren started work at the Institute of Health Equity in August 2025, focusing on the development of Marmot Places in Medway and Kent. She has joined us whilst continuing her role in the NHS where she has driven forward integrated neighbourhood working for the multiple long term condition population in south east London.
Since 2023, she has overseen the development, co-production and rollout of this transformative way of working whilst building evaluation data to evidence the impact of this on the local population, system and staff.
Lauren’s strengths in strategic planning, enabling relationship building and facilitating integration stand her in good stead for her role as Senior Researcher at the IHE. Here, she is excited to bring her passion for the social determinants of health and primary prevention with her experience collaborating across geographies to enable community-driven initiatives and perspectives. By remaining in her NHS role, Lauren hopes to identify opportunities for collaboration between integrated neighbourhood working and Marmot Places.
Senior Research Fellow
Jill is a Senior Research Fellow at IHE. She is currently supporting the Children and Young People’s Health Equity Collaborative (CHEC), working to evaluate initiatives that promote health equity for children, and developing a set of national child health equity indicators to support local areas to routinely and consistently monitor their local needs and efforts to address child health equity.
She is also supporting Camden Council with the development of a whole-family mental health framework designed to support the coordination and optimisation of Camden’s existing whole-family mental health services and approaches for at-risk children, young people, and their families.
Previously at IHE, Jill led the development of an evidence and measurement framework for Children’s Centres and contributed to the analysis and presentation of the Marmot Indicators, which tracked health inequalities across England.
Before rejoining IHE, Jill was Head of Research and Evaluation at the Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP), A Better Start site, where she oversaw the development of LEAP’s theory of change, shared measurement system, and the programme’s research and evaluation efforts.
Jill also brings experience from The King’s Fund, where she worked on a collaborative project with Manchester University to assess the impact of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) performance ratings. The research explored how health and social care providers, the public, and key stakeholders responded to these ratings, and how they influenced performance and care quality.
She holds a degree in English Literature and Language from the University of Sheffield, and an MA in Research Methodology and Social Policy from the University of Liverpool.
Researcher
Hédia Ait-Kaci joined the Institute of Health Equity as a researcher in December 2025, contributing to different Marmot Places.
Focusing on understanding how to reduce health inequalities, she previously worked in France, in the Département of Seine-Saint-Denis, on healthcare access, Tuberculosis and HIV. Among other roles, Hédia worked at the Regional Health Agency of Ile-de-France (ARS) on patient and public engagement.
In the UK, she worked as an Evaluation and Impact Manager in the voluntary sector in Newham, London and as a Senior Public Health Practitioner in the City and Hackney Public Health team, supporting the Community Champions Programme during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hédia holds an MSc in Health Economics and Health Systems Management (Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne) and is currently completing an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing (LSHTM and LSE).