David Buck

Position: Senior Fellow, Public Health and Inequalities
Teams: Policy

David works in the policy team.

Before joining the Fund, David worked at the Department of Health as deputy director for health inequalities. He managed the Labour government's PSA target on health inequalities and the independent Marmot Review of inequalities in health. While in the Department he worked on many policy areas – including on diabetes, long-term conditions, dental health, waiting times, the pharmaceutical industry, childhood obesity and choice and competition – as an economic and strategy adviser. He has also worked at Guy's Hospital, King’s College London and the Centre for Health Economics in York where his focus was on the economics of public health and behaviours and incentives.

Community champions: surviving and thriving beyond covid?

Laura Lamming and Dave Buck provide an overview of findings from their research into the role and value of community champions.

Prevention and policy: hoping for a gathering storm and not a storm in a teacup

What does the recent interest on prevention mean for health policy, and will we see any meaningful action? Dave Buck considers what might be different this time.

Both, and: population health and public health professionals need to make the most of distinct contributions to better health

New population health roles in Integrated Care Systems need a clear partnership with public health partners to succeed. Toby Lewis and David Buck explore steps to make that happen.

Hard times: the latest chapter in the story of local government public health spending

How much did local government spend on public health in 2021/22, and what did they spend it on? David Buck explores.

Poverty and the health and care system: The role of data and partnership in bringing change

Health and care systems can mitigate, reduce and prevent poverty’s effects on health, but to do this they need to be much better at sharing and acting on data. Our long read with the Centre for Progressive Policy sets out the data available, explores existing good practice, and what needs to happen next.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities: one year on

David Buck look as at the public health gains and losses, one year on from the formation of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.

Moving into the public health system of the future while learning from the past: lessons from London

The King’s Fund has been working to support London’s public health ‘family’ and its partners to learn from their experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic and develop shared principles for working together in the future. Kevin Fenton, Director of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities in London, and members of The King’s Fund’s project team, share their reflections on this process.

What are health inequalities?

What are health inequalities?

This explainer provides an overview of how health inequalities are experienced in England’s population.

The Khan tobacco control review: a magic bullet for health inequalities?

The government has stated that smoking is responsible for half of the inequalities gap in life expectancy in England – will the ideas in an independent review close that gap?

Local government public health funding: putting the jigsaw together without the picture on the box

Funding for local public health has been getting more complicated, making it harder for directors of public health to plan, and for transparency for anyone looking on, seeking to understand what is happening. David Buck looks at the different pieces of the jigsaw.