Leading social scientist to direct MRC Unit at Glasgow University

Professor Laurence Moore has been appointed as the new Director of the Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (MRC/CSO SPHSU), University of Glasgow. He will succeed Professor Dame Sally Macintyre, who will step down in October after nearly 30 years at the helm of the Unit. Professor Moore is currently Professor of Public Health Improvement at Cardiff University and founding Director of DECIPHer, a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence, which is a strategic partnership between Cardiff, Bristol and Swansea Universities. He is a social scientist and statistician with a particular interest in the development and evaluation of interventions to improve public health. Working in multidisciplinary teams and in collaboration with policy makers, practitioners and the public, he has completed mixed methods evaluations of diverse interventions and programmes, which have then had a direct impact on policy and practice. These include evaluations of exercise referral schemes, fruit tuck shops, peer-led smoking prevention (the ASSIST trial), the free school breakfast initiative in Wales and smoking cessation in pregnancy. Professor Anna Dominiczak, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow, said:"We are delighted that Professor Moore will join us.