American Medical Alumni Lecture 2025: Professor Sir Michael Marmot Social Justice and Health: Taking action to achieve health equity

The School of Medicine is delighted to welcome Professor Sir Michael G. Marmot MBBS, MPH, PhD, FRCP, FFPHM, FMedSci, FBA to deliver the 2025 American Medical Alumni Lecture. This lecture series is supported by the American Medical Alumni Fund, instituted by the Council of the Faculty of Science in 1975-76 to make use of the donations from American medical graduates of the University of St Andrews. The fund was created by Jewish Americans who came to St Andrews in the late 1920s and early 1930s when they were barred from other medical schools. This group were very generous to the School of Medicine upon their retirement.

Sir Michael has been Professor of Epidemiology at University College London since 1985 and is Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. His lecture will explore evidence-based strategies for tackling health inequalities – a matter of social justice – at a local and national level. He will argue that developing such strategies requires confronting the social gradient in health, not just the difference between the worst off and everybody else.  Sir Michael will outline the clear evidence from several countries that national policies make a difference and that much can be done in cities, towns and local areas. However, his lecture will also emphasise that policies and interventions must not be confined to the healthcare system, but must instead address the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.  Based on evidence showing that economic circumstances, while important, are not the only drivers of health inequalities, Sir Michael will outline why tackling the health gap will take action, based on sound evidence, across the whole of society.

This event is open to all audiences, including members of the public. Please book a ticket – free of charge – using the form below. Questions about the event can be directed to [email protected].

More on Professor Sir Michael Marmot

Sir Michael Marmot has been Professor of Epidemiology at University College London since 1985, and is Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. He is the author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (Bloomsbury: 2015), and Status Syndrome (Bloomsbury: 2004). He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong (2019-), and co-Director of the of the CUHK Institute of Health Equity. He is the recipient of 20 honorary doctorates. Marmot has led research groups on health inequalities for nearly 50 years. He chaired the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, WHO Regional Commissions, and reviews on tackling health inequality for UK governments. He is former President of the British Medical Association (2010-2011), and former President of the World Medical Association (2015). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2000 he was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen, for services to epidemiology and the understanding of health inequalities. He was appointed a Companion of Honour for services to public health in the 2023 New Year Honours. 


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