Speaker Presentations

Find out more information about the expert speakers who will be at the Conference.

Sir Kenneth Calman

 

Sir Kenneth Calman is Chancellor of the University of Glasgow and Chairman of the National Library of Scotland.    He graduated in medicine in Glasgow and became Professor of Oncology in 1974.  He remained in that post for 10 years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1979. In 1984 he became Dean of Postgraduate Medicine and Professor of Postgraduate Medical Education at the University of Glasgow and Consultant Physician with an interest in palliative care at Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow. 

In 1989 he was appointed Chief Medical Officer at the Scottish Home and Health Department and in September 1991 he became Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Health in London.  He was a member of the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation, and it’s Chairman from 1998-9.  He was Vice Chancellor and Warden of the University of Durham from 1998 until 2007. He was a Member of the Statistics Commission from 1999 until 2007. He was President of the Institute of medical Ethics and Deputy Chair of the Board of the British Library until 2015. He chaired the Commission on Scottish Devolution 2008-9, and was President of the British Medical Association from 2008-9. He was awarded a KCB in 1996. He was Chairman of the National Trust for Scotland from September 2010-2015.

His most recent books are “A study of storytelling, humour and learning in medicine” and “Medical Education: Past present and future” He has recently completed research for an M.Litt on Scottish Literature and Medicine and published a book on this subject in July 2014 entitled “A Doctor’s Line. Poems and Prescriptions in Health and Healing.” He is currently Chairman of the National Library of Scotland, and a book of his own poems, “Afterthoughts” was published in November 2017.

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Dr Alison Tedstone

Dr Alison Tedstone is Deputy Director with responsibility for diet, nutrition and obesity in the Health Improvement Directorate of Public Health England (PHE). Her teams work areas include the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, nutrient composition of foods, scientific advice on nutrition (including the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition), and advice on nutrition and actions to improve diet, including work underpinning the government’s Childhood Obesity Plan with the food industry to reduce the sugar, salt and calorie content of everyday foods.

The division also coordinates, across PHE, a programme of work aimed at tackling the nation’s obesity problem which supports national and local level delivery, including actions aimed at improving systems leadership and addressing the environmental causes of obesity.

Alison transferred with other nutrition colleagues from the Department of Health in 2013 and before that from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2010. Before joining the FSA, in 2001, Alison was an academic at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Alison completed post doctorate research in Oxford and is a registered public health nutritionist.

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Daniel Kleinberg

Daniel was appointed as Deputy Director of Health Improvement in September 2015. In this role, Daniel leads a division supporting Ministers on policies relating to tobacco, drugs policy, alcohol, diet and obesity, the underlying causes of health inequalities and ways to increase the healthy life expectancy of the population of Scotland. 

His previous posts include Head of Youth Justice, Head of International Strategy, Head of EU Policy and Private Secretary.  Daniel is married with two children and, before joining the Government in 2000, studied political theory.

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Alastair Graham

Alastair has worked in the Scotland office of Kantar TNS since 2008.  Kantar TNS is one of the world’s largest research agencies and is a leading provider of specialist research to both government and private sector clients.  Since joining Kantar TNS, Alastair has provided insight to several public sector organisations, using a variety of primarily quantitative research approaches ranging from public surveys, social marketing evaluation, attitudinal and behavioural studies, and longer-term tracking research.  

On behalf of Food Standards Scotland, Alastair has worked on the “Food in Scotland” consumer tracking since its inception in 2015.  He has also evaluated many of the campaigns run by Food Standards Scotland, assessing the impact they have had on their target audiences. 

Alastair is also responsible for providing insight into the Scottish Government’s Healthier social marketing, including the ‘Take Life On’ and ‘Eat Better, Feel Better’ campaigns.  This recently involved using social media analytics to complement traditional research, and Alastair’s social media analysis of the Scottish Government’s Organ Donation campaign won the 2016 Market Research Society Grand Prix award and Social Media Research award.

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Eric Marin

Eric Marin is Deputy Head of Unit G5 - Alerts, Traceability and Committees - of the Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) of the European Commission. He coordinates the EU Food Fraud Network.

He is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the Veterinary School of Lyon and a HEC Executive MBA graduate.

His past experiences within the Commission are varied, from issues of Better Regulation and Impact Assessments, Animal Health, Aid to Developing Countries (EuropeAid office- DG AIDCO), Fight against Fraud (OLAF) to audit of the implementation of Food Safety Legislation (Food and Veterinary Office – DG SANCO.)

Before joining the European Commission in 1998, Mr Marin had been working for the French Ministry of Agriculture since 1991. He held positions at the French Embassy in Madrid and as a national expert on food safety issues in dairy products in Brussels. He was also an expert for the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health).

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Erin Kappelhof

Managing Partner at Eat Well Global, a specialized nutrition communication company, Erin’s broad experience ranges from working with international food manufacturers and supermarket retailers to NGOs, communications agencies and research institutions.

She specializes in garnering international insights and working in the dynamic intersection between the food industry, communications and global health. Erin is a registered dietitian and nutritionist with master’s degrees in nutrition communication (MS) and health services, management and policy (MPH) from Tufts University. She is an active member of the European Nutrition Leadership Platform (ENLP) and the International Affiliate of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  

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Ewan MacDonald-Russell

 

Ewan is Head of Policy & External Affairs for the Scottish Retail Consortium. He previously was Public Affairs Advisor for Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc, and before that worked for the Scottish Youth Parliament, Scottish Parliament & Business Exchange, having started his career at the Courier Newspaper in Dundee.

Ewan leads on the development of SRC policy, collaborating with stakeholders, members, and colleagues to develop the SRC’s position on relevant Scottish issues. He also leads on the development of the SRC’s media activity. He can be found on Twitter @ewanmacdonald.

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Leena Rasanen

Leena has worked for the Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira since 2014. Evira ensures food safety, promotes animal health and welfare, and develops the prerequisites for plant and animal production, and plant health. Previously to this Leena worked as a Policy Officer for the European Commission.
 
Leena graduated with a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 1991 from the University of Helsinki, and later achieved her PhD in Veterinary Medicine. Leena also holds a degree in food hygiene. Her areas of interest include veterinary public health, zoonoses, food safety, antimicrobial resistance, EU policy and international food safety issues.

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Malcolm Copland

Malcolm joined Marks & Spencer as a graduate recruit; having completed a one year business placement the following 21 years were invested in a variety of roles within Retail and Purchasing Category Management.

Malcolm has been the Commercial Director for Greggs Plc. since 2014.  He is a member of Greggs Operating Board and has full accountability for Category Management, New Product Development and Purchasing.

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Paul Willgoss

Paul has been with Marks and Spencer since 1995 completing a broad range of both technical and commercial appointments with experience of working with business, government and NGOs across the Food and Agricultural sectors.
 
Paul was appointed Technical Director in January 2009, he is responsible for Food Safety, Quality, Integrity and Legality across all Territories within the supply chain and retail outlets.  He has been part of the Senior Leadership team for 8 years.
 
More widely across M&S Paul has chaired the business' approach to Human Rights and Modern Slavery, following legislative changes. In 2016 he was appointed by the M&S Board to lead the restructure of M&S UK Offices to simplify the business, reduce roles and relocate key functions to outside London.

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Peter Gerner-Smidt

Dr Peter Gerner-Smidt is a Danish/American MD, DSc with specialty in clinical microbiology. He is the chief of the Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch in the Division for Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases at Centers for  Disease Control.

He is leading the effort to implement whole genome sequencing for public health surveillance of bacterial foodborne infections at CDC and the United States. He is also involved in its implementation globally through the Global Microbial Identifier initiative and PulseNet International.

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Peter van der Logt

 

Peter van der Logt is Principal Adviser Risk Assessment in the Biosecurity Science, Food Science and Risk Assessment Directorate of the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). His areas of interest are food safety, risk assessment and epidemiology.

He is a member of MPI’s Campylobacter Risk Management Strategy Working Group who are tasked to reduce foodborne campylobacteriosis in New Zealand. He graduated as veterinarian from Utrecht University and holds Master degrees of Veterinary Science and Applied Statistics from Massey University.

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The Board

The members of Food Standards Scotland are informally known as ‘the Board’. They are appointed by Scottish Ministers through an open and public process.

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About Us

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) is the public sector food body for Scotland.