Meet Peter Howitt

Peter is Managing Director of two of IGHI’s Centres.  The Centre for Health Policy does policy research on patient safety, digital and cyber security.  The Climate Cares Centre is the world’s first research centre dedicated to climate change and mental health and wellbeing.  Peter also oversees IGHI’s communications and leads the Policy Workstream of the Fleming Initiative.     

Peter has over twenty years’ experience working on health and related social policy, mostly within the Department of Health and Social Care, where he was recently the Director for PPE Policy and Strategy.  He has also worked as Director of Strategy in the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Systems.   

 Professional achievements:   

Peter is a leading health policy thinker and communicator, having developed acclaimed health strategies nationally (Our Health, Our Care, Our Say and High Quality Care for All, England and Qatar National Cancer and Primary Care Strategies) and regionally (Healthcare for London: a Framework for Action and Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Longer Term Plan for Improving Health and Care).  

He established the MSc in Health Policy at Imperial College London.  

Publications include: 

  • Foster-Gilbert, C, Fleming T, Butler D and Howitt P, Letters from Lockdown: Sustaining Public Service Values During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Haus Publishing, 2020  
  • Suggs L S., McIntyre C., Warburton W., Henderson S., Howitt P., Communicating Health Messages: A framework to Increase the effectiveness of Health Communication Globally, WISH 2015  
  • Howitt P., Darzi A., Yang G-Z. Technologies for Global Health. The Lancet, Volume 380, Issue 9840, 2012, P 507-535  

Research interests:   

  • Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Policy  
  • Patient Safety Policy  
  • Digital Health Policy  
  • Climate Change and Mental Health Policy  
  • Communication and Health Policy  

The Communication and Health Policy module utilises different communication models to underpin students’ understanding.  However, theory is always in the service of practical outcomes, culminating in the assessment to create a communication strategy of the student’s choice, which could be for their own work area.