Professor Seshadri Vasan, the Director of Research and Development at NHS Grampian, has been appointed as the new Chair of the College’s Sustainability Steering Group.
A College Fellow and Regional Advisor, he has three decades of experience in Australia, India, Malaysia, the US and the UK, and advocates for the NHS to lead on sustainability and address the risks of microplastics.
In Australia, he developed the ‘DISCoV3R’ grant scheme to reduce, reuse and recycle the coronavirus rapid antigen tests which have created major plastic waste around the world.
He will be joined by College Fellow and former GP, Dr Julie Gallagher, who has been appointed as Deputy Chair. Dr Gallagher is a travel medicine specialist and brings three decades of frontline clinical experience to the group. She has a particular interest in the impact that ultra processed food, air pollution and lack of sunlight exposure has on populations and planetary health.
Professor Hany Eteiba, President of the College, said: “It’s a great pleasure to welcome Professor Vasan and Dr Gallagher to their new roles on our Sustainability Steering Group.
“We recognise that the climate crisis poses a serious risk to public health – and that the health service itself has an impact on the climate. Professor Vasan and Dr Gallagher will play a key role in the group’s next chapter, helping Fellows and Members through learning and advocacy, and adapting our own activities as a College.
“I would also like to take this opportunity pay tribute to Professor Adrian Stanley, our outgoing Chair and a founding member of the group, for his dedication and commitment to working towards a more sustainable College and profession.”
Established in November 2022, the group is helping the College to play its part in addressing the climate emergency and brings together Fellows and Members with College staff. Together, they are working to support the College’s ambition to achieve carbon net zero status by 2045.
The group has four priorities:
· To demonstrate leadership in raising awareness of, and tackling issues related to, the climate emergency and health
· To support healthcare professionals to adapt to the changing patterns of morbidity and mortality associated with the climate emergency
· To support work to reduce the negative environmental impact of healthcare delivery
· To support work to improve the health of patients and populations to prevent ill health and disease In May 2024, the College earned a Green Tourism award in recognition of its work to embed an environmentally friendly approach to ‘people, planet and places.’
About Professor Seshadri Vasan
Professor Vasan is Director of R&D at NHS Grampian, NHS Research Scotland Management Board Member, and Director at InnoScot Health and Association for Laboratory Medicine. He is Honorary Professor of Medical and Health Sciences at the Edith Cowan University and led Australia’s preclinical response as COVID-19 Science Leader. He won the College’s Triennial Travel Medicine Research Fellowship Award 2024-2027 for Disease-X research.
Professor Seshadri Vasan (left) with Professor David Ross, Dean of our Faculty of Travel Medicine, in February 2025
About Dr Julie Gallagher
A Fellow of the College and Chair of the Sustainability Steering Group’s healthcare advocacy subgroup, Dr Gallagher was a GP for 24 years in the Edinburgh area. She has a background in infectious diseases and is a travel medicine specialist. She has been the team medic for a wide range of expeditions in India, Kenya, Morocco, Botswana and Vietnam.