New Chair of Trustees Announcement

Dear PHC community, I have some news for you that after 7 years of service, our wonderful Chair of Trustees, Dr Joanne McCormack has handed over the role to our new Chair, Dr David Jehring.

Joanne has been a Trustee since the very beginning and has been instrumental in getting us to where we are today. From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to thank Joanne for her encapsulating support and impressive tenacity over the past 7 years. We simply couldn’t have done it without her.

As the new Chair of the PHC, David aims to build upon Joanne’s legacy while synergising his unique set of skills – his expertise in starting and running businesses, his deep understanding of healthcare informatics, and his knowledge of ecological medicine – to elevate the PHC’s mission to new heights. His leadership promises a future for PHC where evidence-based lifestyle interventions play a central role in reversing metabolic diseases and fostering a healthier society. We eagerly anticipate the transformative impact of his stewardship.

Having said that, I’d like to pass you over to Joanne to say a few words…

First, as the outgoing Chair of Trustees for the PHC, I sincerely wanted to thank all of you for your support over the past several years.

This last year has been particularly challenging, and we had some very difficult decisions to make about the direction of our charity going forward. However, I have been well supported in these decisions by the new Trustees who joined the Board in 2022, and of course by our Director, Sam Feltham.

I am pleased to tell you that as of last Friday 21st July, I have handed over the Chair role to Dr David Jehring. This followed a planned process, which began when we appointed the new Trustees over a year ago. I intend to stay on as a Trustee until April 2024.

Keep collaborating, everyone! The hill is steep, and the perils are many on the road to better nutrition for us all, and we will be much stronger and effective together.

Best wishes to you all,

Joanne McCormack
Outgoing Chair of Board of Trustees

…Although this is bittersweet news, I’m very excited about what the future holds with Dr David Jehring as our Chair of Trustees. With a rich background encompassing over two decades as a family doctor in the NHS, pioneering work in GP computing, and a successful entrepreneurial career in healthcare technology, David brings a wealth of skills and experience to his new role.

David is one of the UK’s few original GP computing trailblazers, having been instrumental in designing the country’s first Windows GP clinical system and leading Apollo Medical from a start-up into national recognition. As the founder of Black Pear, his business acumen and experience in managing dynamic enterprises are invaluable assets. His personal passion for metabolic health is deeply interwoven with his professional life. Having reversed his own type 2 diabetes over a decade ago through lifestyle changes, David is a true believer in the power of healthy living.

His commitment to this cause has been demonstrated recently through the “Soil to Soul” conference, held at his Worcestershire farm. This unique event saw farmers and doctors sharing the same stage, illustrating the fundamental role of sustainable food systems in maintaining optimal health.

As I’m sure you’ll agree, David is more than qualified through his experience and passion for creating the change that we all want to see. On that note, I wanted to share with you our 3 major ambitions for the foreseeable future:

• Reverse the type 2 diabetes and prediabetes epidemic.
• Have food addiction recognised as an official diagnosis.
• Undo the childhood obesity crisis.

Over the coming years we intend to achieve these ambitions by delivering high-quality projects, collaborating with universities to conduct robust research and advocating for the changes we want to see. Through this process our hope is that we will build a society where everyone enjoys good metabolic health. Find out more about our vision, mission and values by visiting our About page.

Thank you all once again for your continued support.

Best wishes,

Sam Feltham
Director of the Public Health Collaboration