Ann McNeill is a Professor of Addictions in the National Addiction Centre with a focus on tobacco. She graduated from the University of Nottingham with a first class joint honours degree in zoology and psychology and then carried out her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry focusing on the development of dependence on smoking. Since that time she has held a variety of academic and public sector posts focusing largely on tobacco control research. Ann has an established international reputation, receiving a World Health Organisation award for contributions to tobacco control in 1998. She has published more than 250 academic papers book chapters, reports and opinion pieces on the subject and her research ranges across prevention, cessation, harm reduction and local, national and international policy. Ann was a co-author of the recent systematic review of tobacco product packaging which underpinned the recent government consultation on plain packaging and has a particular interest in the relationship between smoking, mental health and inequalities. She is Deputy Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies. Competing Interest: Professor McNeill leads the Nicotine Research Group in the Addictions Department, IoPPN and receives funding for projects from a variety of funders such as Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and has no links with any tobacco or vaping product manufacturers. Professor McNeill is a NIHR Senior Investigator

Dr. Peter Selby is a Senior Scientist and Senior Medical Consultant at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He is the Vice-Chair, Research and Giblon Professor in Family Medicine, University of Toronto.  His research focuses on innovative methods to understand and treat addictive behaviours and their comorbidities. He uses technology to combine clinical medicine and public health methods to scale up and test health interventions.  His cohort of >400,000 treated smokers in Ontario is an example of this.  He has received grant funding totaling over 100 million dollars from CIHR, NIH, and Ministry of Health and has published >200 peer reviewed publications.  His most recent programme of research utilizes a Learning Health Systems approach to investigate how technology equitable collaborative care can enhance the delivery of evidence-based interventions to the patient while providing a more satisfying experience of care for patients and providers across systems.

Richard Boden is Deputy Director for Tobacco and Vapes Policy and Legislation within the Department for Health and Social Care. Richard has led on the design and development of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, and prior to this led on the independent Khan Review. Before joining DHSC, he worked at the Department for International Development for over a decade covering a range of international policy and programme issues.

Professor Jamie Brown is Director of the UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group and leads a CRUK programme of research to i) provide insights from the Smoking Toolkit Study into population-wide influences on smoking, smoking cessation and vaping and ii) advance the scientific foundation, and further the development of, potentially wide-reach digital behaviour change technologies. In over 300 publications, a particular focus has been on real-world monitoring and evaluation of national tobacco and alcohol policies and events. He is a co-author of Theory of Addiction (second edition) and ABC of Behaviour Change Theories, co-Regional Editor for Addiction and an Editor for the Cochrane Library.

Dr Nicola Lindson is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at the University of Oxford. She has been involved in tobacco smoking research since 2008. Her work has mainly focused on ways to help people to stop smoking and she is a core member of the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group, leading their living systematic review of ‘Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation’, which has informed international policy and guidelines. Nicola leads the Oxford Tobacco Addiction research Group (OxTAG) and is currently carrying out research looking at the best ways to provide smoking cessation support to people using financial support services, including social housing. In 2025, she will begin leading a programme grant investigating the provision of smoking cessation advice and e-cigarettes within outpatient mental health services.

Alan Boobis is emeritus Professor of Toxicology, Imperial College London. He retired from his chair at the College in June 2017, after over 40 years.  His main research interests lie in mechanistic toxicology, mode of action and chemical risk assessment.  He has published over 250 original research papers (H-factor 80).  He is or has been a member of several national and international advisory committees; including current chair of the UK Committee on Toxicity, member of the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg), FAO/WHO JECFA (veterinary residues) and FAO/WHO JMPR (pesticide residues). He is a fellow of several learned societies and has received a number of awards, including Officer of the British Empire (OBE).

Professor Agrawal is a Consultant in Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, National Specialty Advisor for Tobacco to NHS England, and Special Advisor on Tobacco to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) . Sanjay has supported the implementation of new tobacco dependency treatment services across hospitals and maternity services in England since 2021, has delivered a nationwide quality improvement programme for tobacco dependency treatment services with the British Thoracic Society in 2023 and more recently was the lead editor for the RCP report ‘E-cigarettes: an evidence review’ published in 2024.

Jasmine Khouja is a Senior Research Associate in smoking studies at the University of Bristol. Her work focuses on the causes and consequences of e-cigarette use as well as the potential impact that e-cigarette policy changes could have on adult smokers, adult vapers and young people. Using a range of methods (including novel methods in genetic epidemiology), she has explored a wide variety of topics, including the gateway hypothesis, possible health effects of vaping, and the potential impact of hypothetical e-liquid flavour bans. The overall aims of Jasmine’s research are to reduce health inequalities and to provide supporting evidence for policies and regulations which protect young people from harm and discourage smoking.

Martin is Tobacco Control Programme Lead for (OHID) The Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (previously Public Health England). He joined PHE in February after 7 years at Action on Smoking and Health. Martin has worked in Public Health since the mid 1980’s when he was involved in HIV prevention work. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health.

Tom Freeman is the Director of the Addiction and Mental Health Group, an interdisciplinary research group bridging the departments of Psychology and Life Sciences at the University of Bath. He is Vice President of the Society for the Study of Addiction, and Senior Editor for the journal Addiction. He is internationally known for his research on cannabis and cannabinoids. This includes observational studies characterising changes in cannabis products and their association with addiction and mental health outcomes, novel harm reduction strategies such as the standard THC unit (similar to the standard alcohol unit), the potential of cannabidiol to influence the effects of cannabis, and clinical trials of cannabidiol as a treatment for cannabis use disorder. His research has generated impacts with the US National Institutes of Health Research, the European Union drugs agency, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

Dr Sharon Cox is a Principal Research Fellow within the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group at University College London. Collectively, she has over 15 years’ experience within substance use treatment and research. Her research focuses on tobacco dependence and cessation amongst people living with severe, and often unchanging, health and social needs. She has a special interest in tobacco harm reduction, specifically investigating how quitting smoking using non-combustible nicotine products can improve health outcomes and quality of life in people experiencing homelessness and those with other drug dependences.

Eve is a Research Associate with the Nicotine Research Group. Eve holds both a PhD and MSc in Addiction Science from King’s College London, and a BSc in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Leicester. Eve works across a range of nicotine and tobacco projects focusing on national and international policy, primarily investigating the packaging of nicotine and tobacco products. Her work on packaging has been cited in the 2024 Tobacco and Vapes bill, House of Commons debates and policy briefings. Moreover, her evaluation of the introduction of EU health warning labels has been included in the supporting report on the application of Directive 2014/40/EU. Dr Taylor was also a co-author of the latest Royal College of Physicians ‘E-cigarettes and harm reduction: An evidence review’, and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities commissioned ‘Nicotine Vaping in England’ evidence review.  

Katie is a Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA) Griffith Edwards Academic Fellow and Research Associate working on projects relating to nicotine and tobacco product perceptions and use, with a focus on youth and young adults. Katie’s Fellowship is based within KCL’s Nicotine Research Group (NRG) but also involves collaborations with KCL’s Department of Biostatistics and Heath Informatics, University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences (Canada), and University of Bristol’s MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU). Katie joined the NRG in 2015, after completing her MSc at University College London, and completed her PhD on social norms towards smoking and vaping with the NRG in 2019. From 2020 to 2021, Katie worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Public Health & Health Systems, University of Waterloo, in Canada. Katie co-leads the England arm of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project (http://www.itcproject.org/) and is Operations Coordinator for the international Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) Policy Research Network. Katie also has an interest in open science and statistical methods. She was co-ordinator of the IoPPN’s Volunteer Electronic Helpdesk on Research Methods and Statistics from 2017-2019 and is now involved in ReproducibiliTea, a journal club initiative allowing for discussions about reproducibility and improving science. She founded and led the ReproducibiliTea journal club at The University of Waterloo.

Alizée Froguel is a Prevention Policy Manager at Cancer Research UK – currently leading on the organisation’s tobacco and e-cigarette policy work. She has previous experience in overweight and obesity policy. Alizée has been at the charity for 7 years, and during her time has held a range of roles. She has a background in European politics.  

In October 2024, Hazel Cheeseman was appointed Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).  Hazel has worked in senior roles at ASH for over 10 years before becoming deputy chief executive in 2021 and has played a key role in the development of the organisation. Prior to joining ASH, Hazel worked in the palliative care, homelessness, and housing sectors. As Chief Executive, she will build on the charity’s many achievements to date while steering ASH through an evolving political landscape.

Kate Pike is the Lead Officer for Tobacco and Vaping for the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and Co-ordinator for Trading Standards North West. She supports the delivery of Operation Joseph through National Trading Standards to tackle the supply of illegal vapes, and sales of vapes to children. She sits on the Vaping Expert Panel, which provides support to Trading Standards Officers across the country in delivering regulation around vaping as well as to businesses to enable them to comply with the complex legislation around vaping. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is a professional association which represents and trains trading standards professionals working in local authorities, business and consumer sectors and in central government in the UK and overseas. She has been involved for many years on the regulatory side and was a member of the Department of Health tobacco expert group for many years.

Prior to employment at the MHRA, Craig Copland worked in the health food sector and fitness industry before taking up a position with the Portsmouth Trading Standards Service from 2007 to 2017.  In his capacity as a Trading Standards and Financial Intelligence Officer for Portsmouth City Council, Craig has worked across a broad spectrum of regulation, with a focus on business compliance, consumer protection and product safety. This work has also required Craig to lead and support numerous criminal investigations with a particular focus on vulnerable consumers and counterfeit and unsafe goods. Additionally, Craig developed a number of Primary Authority Partnerships, including work with E-cigarette importers and manufacturers under the pre and post TPD regulatory frameworks.  Since joining the agency Craig has overseen the MHRA competent authority responsibilities in operating the UK notification scheme, while continuing to develop links and work closely with regional and international agencies involved in E-cigarette regulation and enforcement, including the CTSI Tobacco Focus Group, Operation Joseph, Joint Action on Tobacco Control Group, TPD Enforcement Group and EU Expert Panel on E-cigarettes

Coral Gartner is a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland, Australia and the Director of the National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame and is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. She has a first-class honours degree in environmental health and a PhD in epidemiology. Professor Gartner’s research since 2006 has focused on tobacco and nicotine control policy and smoking cessation interventions. She is the immediate past president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Oceania Chapter and is the Australasian regional editor for Tobacco Control and the Australian regional editor for Tobacco Prevention & Cessation. She has published over 320 academic works and contributed to numerous government inquiries and consultations on tobacco control and e-cigarette regulation.

Ben Youdan started his career running the UK’s No Smoking Day Campaign in the early 2000’s before moving to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2006 to take on the role of ASH Director. He worked on the campaign for the Smokefree 2025 goal, and the policy steps to accompany it. In 2013 he took time out of tobacco control to work as the election campaign director for the New Zealand Green Party, and setting up a community led social change project in highly deprived communities in South Auckland. After working with these communities where vaping was disrupting generations of smoking, he returned to ASH with a particular interest in harm reduction as a tool to reduce inequity, and achieve Aotearoa New Zealand’s smokefree 2025 goal.  He currently splits his time between ASH, and as policy adviser to the New Zealand Heart Foundation.

Pablo Cano Trilla leads the ECigIntelligence/TobaccoIntelligence legal analysis team, currently providing legal and policy tracking for more than 100 countries around the world, together with all US states and other subnational jurisdictions. He holds a Master of Laws (LLM) with Distinction from the University of Aberdeen, and is a law and political science graduate from Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona and Madrid University. He was previously a Parliamentary Assistant at the European Parliament in Brussels and a qualified attorney at a Spanish law firm. Pablo has worked as an analyst in Mexico, the UK, and Spain specialising in highly regulated industries. For over a decade, Pablo has worked as a legal researcher and analyst in the tobacco and nicotine industries as part of ECigIntelligence. As head of the legal team, he is committed to providing impartial and objective legal and political analysis that remains entirely independent of the influence of any stakeholders, including companies, governments, or NGOs. His work ensures a balanced perspective, offering clear insights to clients such as companies, governments, tobacco control NGOs, and academic institutions globally.

Ken Warner is a professor emeritus at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. On the faculty from 1972-2017, he served as Dean from 2005-2010. He is currently a co-investigator in the University’s NCI-FDA funded Center for the Assessment of Tobacco Regulations. His research has focused on economic and policy aspects of tobacco and health. Ken served as the World Bank’s representative to negotiations on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. He also served as the Senior Scientific Editor of the 25th anniversary Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health. He is a past President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Ken recently completed a term on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Northwestern Michigan College. Ken received his AB degree from Dartmouth College and MPhil and PhD in economics from Yale University.

Alex joined the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (TARG) at the University of Bristol after completing a PhD as part of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Biosocial Research. Her current research focus aims to increase understanding of how early life experiences, socioeconomic position, mental health and other factors may influence smoking and vaping habits and how we may utilise advanced epidemiological methods and population studies to better understand causality, and omics to create objective markers of health behaviours.

Jeff Weiss is the former Chief Engagement Officer, General Counsel, and Interim President of NJOY, the third largest e-cigarette company in the United States.  An NJOY lawsuit against FDA, culminating in a 2011 D.C. Circuit decision in the company’s favor, paved the way for FDA regulation of non-medicinal nicotine products.  In 2022, NJOY became the first independent vaping company to secure PMTA authorizations from FDA.  Weiss’s tenure with NJOY ended with the company’s sale to Altria in June 2023.  Weiss has a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, a law degree from Arizona State University College of Law, and an LLM in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University Law Center.

Clive Bates has had a diverse career in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.  He started out with the IT company, IBM, then switched career to work in the environment movement. From 1997-2003 he was Director of Action on Smoking and Health (UK), campaigning to reduce the harms caused by tobacco. In 2003 he joined Prime Minister Blair’s Strategy Unit as a civil servant and worked in senior roles in the public sector and for the United Nations in Sudan. He is now Director of Counterfactual, a consulting and advocacy practice focussed on a pragmatic approach to sustainability and public health.

Robert Beaglehole trained in medicine, cardiology, epidemiology and public health in New Zealand, England and the USA. His early research was on ethnic variations in cardiovascular risk, the impact of social change on chronic diseases and explanations for the decline in cardiovascular disease death rates in New Zealand and globally. He joined the University of Auckland in 1979 and was Professor of Community Health (1988-1999). In 2000 he joined the staff of the World Health Organization and between 2004 and 2007 he directed the Department of Chronic Disease and Health Promotion and initiated the Lancet Non-Communicable Diseases Action Group. In 2007 he returned to New Zealand and is now an independent global public health practitioner with a focus on the prevention and control of NCDs in New Zealand, the Pacific and globally. He founded ASH – Action for Smokefree Aotearoa in 1982 and now chairs the organisation which actively supports the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Goal by encouraging the harm reduction strategy. He is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of Auckland.

Ailsa originally trained as a nurse and has worked in tobacco control since 1998. Her early work included heading up the Queensland Quit Campaign in Australia, managing Gateshead and South Tyneside NHS Stop Smoking Service and being Regional Tobacco Policy Manager for the North East. In 2005 Ailsa working with others launched Fresh the UK’s first regional tobacco control programme and has been its Director ever since. In 2014 Ailsa was awarded a World No Tobacco Day Medal by the WHO, an OBE in the New Year’s Honours 2017 for ‘services to tobacco control’. She is passionate about this work, having prematurely lost her father and auntie to COPD. She has also been closely involved in the running of Balance, the North East alcohol programme launched in 2009 in April 2021 became Director of Fresh and Balance, and is proud of the brilliant dedicated small team who work with so many committed partners.

The founder and managing director of ECigIntelligence, Tim is a UK-qualified attorney, having worked at the European Commission, BSkyB and Herbert Smith (an international law firm), AOL Europe, as director of public affairs at Betfair (IPO in 2010 valued at £1.5bn), and as a partner in a New York VC-funded start-up in the diamond sector. Tim holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the University of Law, London and a Masters in Geology from Oxford University.