Smoking and vaping: HABIT Expert Group on nicotine product evidence - member biographies

Professor Linda Bauld

Professor Linda Bauld OBE is the Bruce and John Usher Chair in Public Health in the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh and Chief Social Policy Adviser to the Scottish Government. She is Principal Investigator of Behavioural Research UK, an ESRC funded leadership hub for behavioural research involving eight universities and partner organisations in all four nations.  

Dr Serena Di Genova

Dr Serena Di Genova is a Senior Research Officer in the Health and Social Care Analysis Division at the Scottish Government. As lead analyst for tobacco, vaping, nicotine and herbal smoking products, she provides analytical and evidence support for policy development through research, data analysis, evidence synthesis, stakeholder engagement and cross-government collaboration.

Fiona Dill

Fiona Dill is the Scottish Government policy team leader for tobacco, vaping, nicotine and herbal smoking products. Based within the Population Health Directorate, she leads a team of civil servants who cover prevention, cessation and enforcement for these products. With over 20 years of experience of evidence-based policy making, she has developed national policy across a range of topic areas. 

Dr Neil Gibson

Dr Neil Gibson is a recently retired Consultant in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine in Glasgow. Over a 35-year clinical career, he witnessed the major adverse effects of smoking on children’s lung health, growth and development. He is among many respiratory paediatricians who are concerned that e-cigarettes may pose similar risks.

Professor Subhash Pokhrel

Professor Subhash Pokhrel is a health economist at Brunel University London specialising in tobacco control. He led the EU EQUIPT study, developed NICE's tobacco return-on-investment tool, and quantified the lifetime economic burden of smokeless tobacco in South Asia. Current NIHR projects include SAVINGS (testing smoking cessation support within financial advice services) and TRIDENT (developing interventions for smokers with serious mental illness).

Dr Duncan Gillespie

Dr Duncan Gillespie is a Senior Research Fellow at the Sheffield Addictions Research Group, University of Sheffield. His work focuses on public health policy modelling and evaluation, particularly developing models to understand the potential health and economic effects of new tobacco and nicotine product policies.

Dr Zoe Swithenbank

Dr Zoe Swithenbank is a public health researcher at Lancaster University whose research interests focus on smoking in priority populations, including people who use drugs or alcohol, and people with mental health conditions. Her PhD explored behavioural interventions for smoking cessation in substance use treatment services.

Dr Manu Savani

Dr. Manu Savani is a Senior Lecturer in Behavioural Public Policy at Brunel University of London. An expert in mixed-method experiments, she focuses on health and political behaviours, and public attitudes towards different policy approaches. Previously an economist for the UK government, Dr. Savani holds a PhD in Political Science from UCL.

Professor Francesco Moscone

Prof Francesco Moscone researches sustainable healthcare expenditure, examining how healthier lifestyles and cost-effective medical technologies can improve population health and healthcare efficiency. His work has informed parliamentary debates across Europe, been widely cited internationally, and featured extensively in global media, reflecting its impact on health policy and public discourse.

Dr Ivan Gee

Dr Gee’s research expertise focuses on indoor and outdoor air quality, particularly exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. His recent projects have measured indoor tobacco smoke, evaluated smokefree environments, explored harm reduction strategies in the home among smokers, and assessed vaping and nicotine pouches.

Dr Tessa Langley    

Dr Tessa Langley is an Associate Professor in Public Health Economics and Evaluation, specialising in tobacco control. She has led major UK studies on tobacco policy and contributed to Royal College of Physicians reports as part of its Tobacco Advisory Group. She is Deputy Editor of Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

Dr Ivan Marković     

Dr Ivan Marković is a Lecturer in Human Geography at Durham University, specialising in historical and cultural geographies of smoking, vaping, health, atmosphere and life. His current work examines nicotine, embodiment and public health through interdisciplinary approaches, with interests in archives, ethics, memory, sensory methods and policy-relevant knowledge exchange.

Dr Raouf Alebshehy    

Dr Raouf Alebshehy is a public health consultant and leads Tobacco Tactics at the University of Bath. His research focuses on tobacco retail regulation and monitoring tobacco industry interference. He has worked with WHO and the WHO FCTC Secretariat, with expertise in tobacco control policy, international law, and protecting public health policymaking.

Professor Milica Vasiljevic    

Professor Milica Vasiljevic is a behavioural scientist whose research examines how environmental cues, product marketing and public policy shape health behaviours, including smoking and vaping. Using experimental and population-based methods, she has generated influential evidence on e-cigarette advertising, risk perceptions and behaviour change, helping inform national and international public health policy.

Dr Emma Brown    

Dr Emma Brown’s work centres on smoking cessation and behaviour change. Her research spans self-incentive interventions, peer-led support for incarcerated people, and behaviour change techniques in primary care. A former specialist stop-smoking adviser, she contributes to national practitioner training through consultancy work for Public Health Wales, supporting evidence-informed approaches to cessation.

Dr Jasmine Khouja    

Dr Jasmine Khouja is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Bath. Her work focuses on the causes and consequences of e-cigarette use, as well as the potential impact that e-cigarette policy changes and prevention initiatives could have on adult smokers, adult vapers and young people.

Dr Ross Langley    

Dr Ross Langley is a Paediatric Consultant in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow. He recently received an NRS research career fellowship. He researches on vaping, particularly its rise and risk to children’s lung health, and works with allied health professionals to educate future generations about the risks of nicotine addiction.

Dr Kenneth Macleod    

Dr Kenneth Macleod is a paediatric respiratory consultant in NHS Lothian. Part of his clinical role is improving education for patients, carers and colleagues on the harms of nicotine products. He also has a research interest in the impact of legislation on young people’s behaviours and their future health and wellbeing.

Professor Rachel Isba    

Professor Rachel Isba is a Consultant in Paediatric Public Health Medicine (with a Special Interest in Addictions) at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Professor of Children and Young People's Health at Lancaster University, and a Trustee for the Royal Society for Public Health. She is committed to reducing health and healthcare inequalities experienced by children.

Dr Scott Hogg  

Dr Scott Hogg works as a GP in Edinburgh and has a research interest in the commercial determinants of health. Motivated by the experience of his patients, he is determined to address the harm caused by tobacco and other nicotine products. Dr Hogg is a Trustee of ASH Scotland and sits on the advisory group of NCD Alliance Scotland.

Professor Andrew Russell    

Prof Andrew Russell is an anthropologist working on social science and humanities approaches to the production, use and control of tobacco at global, national, regional and local levels. He is particularly interested in corporate tobacco, heritage/legacy issues, young people and smoking/vaping, and ensuring full implementation of FCTC Article 5.3 by local government. 

Andy MacGregor    

Andy MacGregor has over 30 years' experience delivering complex, policy-relevant public health research. He has worked on numerous grant-funded projects as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator, including the school-based research component of the project "Exploring the Retail Availability, Sales, Display and Marketing of New Nicotine Products in Scotland”.

Ruth Dale    

Ruth Dale is the founder and Behavioural Insights Lead at Hidden Voices Heard. With more than 20 years’ experience across national and local government, the NHS and Public Health England, she applies behavioural insights to reduce health inequalities. An HSJ Award winner and host of the BrainFuel podcast, she publishes the popular weekly Making Hidden Voices Heard newsletter.

Dr Marissa Smith    

Dr Marissa Smith has been a Research Associate at the University of Glasgow since 2017, specialising in public health policy and health inequalities. Embedded within Glasgow City Council (HDRC), she supports evidence-informed policymaking. Her PhD explored e cigarette policy, and her research focuses on youth health, commercial determinants, and translating evidence into policy and practice.

Professor Sean Semple    

Sean Semple is Professor of Exposure Science and co-Director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at the University of Stirling. He has over 25 years’ experience of research on improving understanding of human exposure to hazards and supporting behaviour change to reduce those exposures. His interests include the health effects of indoor air pollution, tobacco control, and occupational epidemiology. 

Professor Jacob George    

Professor Jacob George is the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of the MHRA. He is also Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Dundee and a practising consultant physician who leads the Cardiovascular Risk Service at NHS Tayside. He is qualified in Clinical Pharmacology and General Internal Medicine and is an accredited European Hypertension Specialist.

Professor Alberto Fiore    

Professor Alberto Fiore is a food chemist and technologist at Abertay University. His expertise includes the chemical analysis of toxic compounds and biomarkers using chromatography and mass spectrometry. His research evaluates human exposure to food-processing contaminants, emerging pollutants and vaping emissions, supporting evidence-based approaches to risk assessment and public health.

Professor Ahsan Akram    

Ahsan Akram is Professor of Thoracic Oncology and Imaging at the University of Edinburgh and Honorary Consultant in Respiratory Medicine with NHS Lothian. His work focuses on translational lung cancer research, imaging technologies, and tumour microenvironment biology. He leads a multidisciplinary research group with interests in early diagnosis, supporting early career researchers, and advancing equality, diversity and inclusion.

Dr Effie Marathia    

Dr Effie Marathia is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Psychology at the University of Stirling. Effie obtained her PhD from the University of Dundee in 2025, where her research focused on understanding why and how people quit smoking unassisted (without medical or professional support) using health psychology and self-regulation theories.

Professor Riccardo Marioni    

Riccardo Marioni is Professor of Molecular Epidemiology of Ageing at the University of Edinburgh. His team is interested in developing biomarkers of lifestyle and health from omics data (genetics, epigenetics and proteomics) in large cohort studies to improve disease risk prediction.

Professor Michael Ussher    

Michael Ussher is Professor of Behavioural Medicine at University of Stirling and City St George’s, University of London. He has a background in health psychology. His work has focused on the development and evaluation of smoking cessation interventions, especially in the pregnant population. Recent studies have also investigated vaping during pregnancy.

Dr Blair Saunders    

Dr Blair Saunders is a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Psychology at the University of Dundee. His work focuses on the self-regulatory, habitual, and motivational processes that underlie health behaviours, including the cessation of nicotine products. His work incorporates multiple methodologies including behavioural analysis, interviews, and intensive longitudinal surveys.

Professor Niamh Shortt    

Niamh Shortt is a Professor of Health Geographies at the University of Edinburgh and co-director of the Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Health (CRESH), where she leads a programme of work on tobacco and alcohol environments. Niamh’s principal research interests are in health geography, specifically in how the environment shapes our health, health behaviours and health inequalities.

Dr Allison Ford    

Dr Allison Ford is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling. Specialising in qualitative methods, her research spans tobacco and nicotine prevention, cessation and harm reduction. Current studies include understanding responses to nicotine products’ retail marketing and birth outcomes of vaping in pregnancy. 

Anne Marie MacKintosh    

Anne Marie MacKintosh is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling. She specialises in quantitative research on health behaviour topics. Her work focuses on survey design and analyses examining adolescents’ and adults’ responses to marketing of nicotine products, evaluating the impact of policies and developing measures to assess uptake of new products.

Professor Christopher Lucas    

Professor Lucas is the chair of Pulmonary Immunity and Regeneration at the University of Edinburgh. He is an Honorary Consultant in Respiratory Medicine and the academic lead for asthma at NHS Lothian. His group focuses on acute and chronic inflammatory diseases of the lung, and how immune-epithelial crosstalk regulates lung regeneration after injury.

Dr Purva Abhyankar    

Dr Purva Abhyankar is a health psychologist and health services researcher with 20 years’ experience in mixed-methods research on behaviour change, decision making and implementation science. Her research applies psychological theories to improve health and healthcare delivery. Her current projects and interests are in respiratory health, including interventions preventing tobacco and air pollution exposure, pulmonary rehabilitation in resource-constrained settings, and improving access to asthma services.

Dr Fiona Dobbie    

Dr Fiona Dobbie is a Reader in Public Health and Director of Research at the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh. She has expertise in gambling harms, tobacco and nicotine use, and young people’s health, with particular strengths in the co-creation, design, implementation, and evaluation of complex public health interventions. Her research aims to generate evidence that informs policy, practice, and population health improvement.

Dr Valerio Restocchi     

Dr Valerio Restocchi is a Reader in Behavioural Data Science at the University of Edinburgh, where he leads an interdisciplinary research group addressing policy-relevant questions. Using real-world data, he builds simulations of complex social systems to study how behaviours spread, how markets adapt, and how public policies affect lives in practice.

Dr Marisa de Andrade    

Dr Marisa de Andrade is a Senior Lecturer in Health, Science and Society at The University of Edinburgh and Co-Director of The Binks Hub and Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry, which tackles inequalities and systems change. She leads the transdisciplinary UKRI consortium, REALITIES, and was joint winner of the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Book Award for Public Health, Humanities and Magical Realism: A Creative-Relational Approach to Researching Human Experience (Routledge).

Professor Simon Cox    

Professor Simon Cox is Personal Chair of Brain and Cognitive Ageing at the University of Edinburgh. He directs the Lothian Birth Cohort studies, among the world’s longest-running studies of cognitive ageing. He investigates why people differ in their rates of brain and cognitive ageing, including the contribution of smoking and other vascular risk factors.

Dr Sreekanth Thekkumkara    

Dr Sreekanth Thekkumkara is a lecturer in Health Sciences at the University of Dundee with a professional background in addiction and mental health social work. His research focuses on global mental health, health inequalities, behavioural change, and tobacco and substance use among people with mental illness. He has contributed to NIHR-funded tobacco cessation research in South Asia.

Professor Grant McIntyre    

Prof Grant McIntyre is Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery and Vice-President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Honorary Professor in Orthodontics at the University of Dundee, and Consultant Orthodontist for NHS Tayside, with an interest in respiratory and oral disease resulting from tobacco and nicotine products.

Professor Ivor Chestnutt    

Ivor Chestnutt is Professor and Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health at Cardiff University. His interests lie in the impact of addictive substances on oral health. He serves on this group as a representative of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Robert Tempelaar    

Robert Tempelaar is Information and Research Officer at ASH Scotland, working at the intersection of research, policy and practice. He specialises in translating evidence and data into insights that inform tobacco and nicotine policy, with interests spanning health inequalities and wider commercial and social determinants of health.

Dr Hala Alaouie    

Dr Hala Alaouie is Monitoring Coordinator for Tobacco Tactics at the University of Bath Tobacco Control Research Group. Her PhD in Social and Policy Sciences from the University of Bath examined contextual factors (particularly state ownership of tobacco monopolies) to provide critical insights to improve tobacco control measures. One of her current work focuses on monitoring interference around the Tobacco and Vapes Act.

Dr Garth Reid    

Dr Garth Reid is a Consultant in Public Health at Public Health Scotland and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. He specialises in tobacco control, vaping, and evidence-based policy. With over 20 years’ experience, he has contributed to national policy and led multidisciplinary research, evaluations and a review of smoking cessation services in Scotland.

Dr Paul Kavanagh    

Dr Paul Kavanagh is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine working with Ireland’s Health Service Executive on tobacco control. He led development of their first National Stop Smoking Guidelines, which doubled service activity and improved service outcomes. He has advised WHO on Global Tobacco Cessation Guidelines for adults and adolescents.   

Dr Richard Holliday    

Dr Richard Holliday is Professor of Periodontology and Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at Newcastle University. His research focuses on the effects of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products on oral and periodontal health. He is Chief Investigator of the NIHR-funded multicentre ENHANCE-D trial, which is evaluating the use of e-cigarettes to support smoking cessation in dental settings. His work informs clinical practice, public health and regulatory policy.

Professor Crawford Moodie    

Prof Moodie works at the Institute for Social Marketing and Health (University of Stirling) on the impacts of commercial marketing of tobacco, alcohol and gambling on consumer attitudes and behaviour. He has authored more than 150 publications and reports. His primary focus is on tobacco packaging, including plain packaging, health-promoting pack inserts, cigarette design and dissuasive cigarettes.

Professor Jamie Pearce    

Jamie Pearce is Professor of Health Geography at the University of Edinburgh and co-Director of CRESH. His research uses a Commercial Determinants of Health framework to understand drivers of disease and health inequalities. His work on tobacco and vapes focuses on pricing, marketing and availability strategies. He has authored over 200 publications and secured more than £20 million in funding from UK, EU and overseas bodies.