Globalisation:National Obesity Forum - Trustees and Staff

• Dr Hilary Jones Patron - Dr Hilary Jones is a Patron of the NOF and has been the Health Advisor on GMTV since 1993. He gained his qualification at The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1976. He still practices part-time as a NHS GP. In addition Dr Jones writes a column for the News of the World answering reader’s questions as well as a section in Rosemary Conley’s magazine and he also edits ‘Family Health Care’ in the Dr Hilary Jones Magazine.

• Jane DeVille-Almond Vice Chair - Jane DeVille-Almond is an independent nurse consultant who specialises in obesity and mental health in primary care. In 1974 Jane trained as an SRN in Jersey then as a Midwife and Health Visitor in the West Midlands. She has previously worked as a School Nurse, Public Health Nurse and Practice nurse. In 1992 she completed a BA (Hons) in English and German business studies following which she worked as Primary Care Editor at the Nursing Times. Jane has worked with the MOD and DOH to improve men’s health services and has also worked in Europe and the Far East. Jane is a trustee of the Men’s Health Forum and appeared as the nutritionist on ITV’s series ‘Fat Chance’.

• Dr David Haslam - GP, Hertfordshire Chair - Dr David Haslam specialises in obesity and cardiometabolic disease. He is a Physician in Obesity Medicine at the Centre for Obesity Research at Luton & Dunstable Hospital, Visiting Professor, Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, and Visiting Professor Chester University. Dr Haslam produced the first Primary Care guidelines for management of childhood obesity with the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health. He is also a Board Member of ESCO (Experts in Severe and Complex Obesity), and the Counterweight Board. He was recently appointed chairman of the Medical Advisory Board at iGlobalFitness, a group specialising in the delivery of weight loss programmes. . iGlobalFitness deliver the Philips Direct Life programme and have been working with GlaxoSmithKline since 2008, a leading pharmaceuticals industry. iGlobalFitness are a leading provider of corporate health and wellness programmes. They state that 'We combine this strategic approach with a global network of resources to offer a range of sustainable and measurable wellness services, designed to stimulate employee participation, increase performance and drive employee engagement'

• Shamil Chandaria - Honorary Patron - Shamil Chandaria holds the position of Chairman at Amplitude Capital, Ocean Capital Associates and IP-Only Telecommunication AB. He is also in charge of the Ad Astra Trust which focuses on health and education. He is the Patron of the Institute of Philosophy at the School of Advanced Study, London University. Shamil has a Ph.D in finance from the London School of Economics, an MA with distinction in Philosophy from University College London and a first class degree in Economics from Cambridge University, where he was a senior scholar.

• Anne Diamond - Honourary Patron - Anne Diamond has been involved with campaigns raising awareness of cervical cancer screening, autism, dyslexia, preventing cot death and vaccination programmes. Her position as patron at the NOF is to raise awareness of the increasing numbers of people and dangers associated with obesity. Anne 'believes that what we need is greater understanding from the medical establishment, action from the politicians, and compassionate help for the individuals whose lives are being impaired and shortened by this debilitating condition'

• Debbie Cook - Debbie Cook graduated as a Nurse Practitioner from the Royal College of Nursing in 2000. She then went on to complete a diploma in education. She has published two cookery and health books and in 2008 became Chair of the West Cluster at Redbridge PCT. Her role at the NOF is not clear.

• Dr Matthew Capehorn - Clinical Director - Dr Matthew Capehorn has a BMedSci degree in Neurophysiology and graduated from the University of Sheffield in 1993. he later obtained his MBChB degree in Medicine Surgery in 1996. He has been Honorary Secretary of the Rotterham Division of the Medical Association since 2003 where as a GP he set up a weight management clinic. For his involvement in the development of the NHS Rotterham obesity strategy he won the NHS Social Care Award 2009. He has also recently been appointed to the Medical Advisory Board at iGlobalFitness . This group work with NilmotPR who claim that 'We are uniquely placed to ensure that the PR services are in place to ensure that we get the most positive messages in the market'. They have global affiliations and provide international services for their clients.

• Tam Fry - Tam Fry is the Honorary Chairman of the Child Growth Foundation. He began medical lobbying in 1977 while working as a BBC Television Producer until 1988 when he decided to dedicate himself to the charity. The Child Growth Foundation are part founded by the pharmaceuticals industry with their accounts showing grants of £40,000 from Ferring, £114,825 from Novo, £5,904 from Merck Serano and £30,000 from Ipsen in 2009.

• Paul Sacher - Paul Sacher is the Research Director and founder of the MEND programme which aims to develop programmes that will help treat and prevent childhood obesity. He is also Chief Investigator of the MEND Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) and is a Clinical Research Fellow at the MRC Childhood Nutrition Research Centre. In addition, he works as the PR Officer for the Paediatric Group of the British Dietetic Association.

• Dr Colin Waine - Patron - Dr Colin Waine was the Chairman of the NOF from 2005 to 2008 after which he became a patron. He has also worked as a visiting lecturer at Reading, Chester and Robert Gordon University Aberdeen and as chairman of the RCGP from 1990-1993. Following the suspension of the slimming drug Rimonabant also known as Accomplia, Dr Waine gave the following statement, "My patients were doing very well on it, and they will now have to stop and come off it. Patient safety must be foremost, but I always thought that if you ruled out the patients with depression, you ruled out the problem with the drug." Interestingly the drug was also produced by one of the NOF’s sponsors, Sanofi-aventis. He also criticised the NHS for using tax payer’s money to provide free slimming classes, ‘If you pay for classes yourself you will probably be more motivated to lose weight than if you get it for free’ These slimming classes would mean slimming drugs produced by NOF sponsors would be less in demand.

• Graham Philips - Graham Philips graduated with a B.Pharm (Hons) from the London University School of Pharmacy in 1981. In 1990 he became a member of Hertfordshire Local Pharmaceutical Committee and was elected to the board of the National Pharmacy Association in 1994. His main areas of interest include men's health and weight management. He is currently Managing Director of the Manor Pharmacy Group They offer the Lipotrim Weightloss Programme created by clinical researcher Valerie Beeson and Nutritional Biochemist Dr Stephen Kreitzman Ph.D, R. Nutr. The programme costs clients £82 for the intial weeks supply of diet sachets and £65 for each week after this. They are told not to eat or drink anything else for the first two weeks of the diet, until they reach their target weight. An article in the Times quoted Margot Brennan’s (of the Irish Nutrition and Dietic Institute) worries about this low-calorie diet. “The body’s first response to low energy intake is to break down muscle and you can’t select where that muscle is coming from. It might be from the heart or lungs” The Howard Foundation who make Lipotrim claim that it is only administered to those with a BMI greater that 25. But pharmacies are issuing the product to those in the healthy weight range and there is little regulation on it’s distribution. One user in response to an article on detox diets commented that she was advised to drink more water to combat her constipation while on the diet until she was drinking around 3L of water a day. She claimed to have an epileptic fit. After her water intake increased to 5L of water per day she had a series of eight fits which resulted in hospitalization, loss of memory, panic attacks and difficulty with everyday tasks . Lipotrim supported the NOF with a grant of £10,000 for the year ending 31 October 2009 .

Conflicts of Interest?

The above shows that out of the eleven members of the NOF's Trustees and Staff five have affiliations that may be considered conflicts of interest. The work they carry out outside of the Forum shows links to pharmaceutical industries whose drugs have often been considered controversial. It would therefore appear that the NOF are not putting patient safety at the heart of their campaign and they do not operate independently as they claim.

Notes

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