I am an Assistant Principal at the University of Edinburgh, Professor of Global Health and Development and Director of our Global Health Academy. My responsibilities include developing and supporting global health partnerships and local and global advocacy. I also co-direct the Global Compassion Initiative, which aims to embed a culture of compassion in the university. I co-ordinate the Global Health PhD programme for students from low-income countries, and lead the Certificate of Global Health Challenges Certificate and our Masters of Family Medicine.

My research spans planetary health and palliative care in the contexts of poverty and conflict – compassion as the value base of the Sustainable Development Goals, the interconnectedness of human health, environment and systems, wisdom of compassion and care in new beginnings and better endings. I host our Palliative Care in a Changing Climate group, working to develop palliative care services in fragile states and refugee settings.

I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, and sit on the Scottish Government NHS Global Citizenship Board.