Earlier in his career Dr James Hospedales was responsible for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) programme for prevention and control of NCDs. He pioneered the Pan American Forum for Action on NCDs, which brings together governments, civil society, academia and business. He has championed civil society involvement to improve health, catalysed the formation of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition and a partnership with the Caribbean tourism industry to improve health, safety and environment conditions.

He is CEO and Founder of the EarthMedic and EarthNurse Foundation for Planetary Health, former Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency. Previously he was Director of the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre and a member of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development. He was an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the US Centers for Disease Control, an epidemiologist at CAREC, and worked for several years in public health for the UK National Health Service.

Dr. Hospedales graduated with honors in medicine from the University of the West Indies, and has a master’s degree in community medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health, and an accredited partnership broker with the Partnering Institute of the UK. He has published more than 60 papers and reports.