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Drinkaware names new chief medical advisor

Alcohol education charity Drinkaware has appointed Dr Fiona Sim to succeed Professor Paul Wallace as chief medical advisor, effective November 2017.

Dr Fiona Sim is to succeed Professor Paul Wallace as chief medical advisor, Drinkaware

In her new role Dr Sim will chair Drinkaware’s independent Medical Advisory Panel, which ensures ensure that the charity’s advice and information is based on the most up-to-date medical evidence.

She will take the gauntlet from Professor Wallace, who is to retire from the role after eight years of service.

As an NHS general practitioner, Dr Sim has direct experience in managing patients with alcohol-related problems in a primary care setting and alcohol-related performance concerns in health care professionals.

She has also published on the subject of alcohol from an evidence-based public health and policy perspective and has a strong track record as a medical and public health leader, both in the UK and internationally.

Currently a senior clinical adviser, NHS England Central Midlands, Dr Sim has held a number of senior NHS roles including medical director of Bedfordshire and Luton PCT Cluster; director of public health, and trust executive medical director in Barnet; head of public health development at the Department of Health; and associate dean of postgraduate medicine in London.

“I am delighted to be joining Drinkaware as its independent Chief Medical Advisor,” said Dr Sim. “Drinkaware has a unique role in providing alcohol education in the UK and, in so doing, makes an important contribution to wider efforts to reduce alcohol harm.

“I am greatly looking forward to working with colleagues across the organisation and beyond as we continue to help people make better, more informed choices about alcohol.”

Dr Sim retains academic appointments as honorary senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and as a visiting professor at the University of Bedfordshire, and is also joint editor in chief of international peer-reviewed journal Public Health.

In addition, she is a special adviser to the Royal Society for Public Health and a medical appraiser for the UK Faculty of Public Health.

She was also chair of council of the Royal Society for Public Health from 2012 to 2016 and was awarded an OBE for services to public health in 2015.

Sir Leigh Lewis, chair of Drinkaware’s Board of Trustees, said: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome Dr Fiona Sim as Drinkaware’s new chief medical advisor, in this our 10th anniversary year.

“Her wealth of experience will be an enormous asset as we build on the highly successful and distinguished work of our outgoing chief medical advisor, Professor Paul Wallace, and continue fulfilling Drinkware’s mission of reducing alcohol related harm. We are very much looking forward to working with her.”

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