Dr Peter Scarborough

Pete is the joint leader of the group’s research programme on nutrition, and also leads a programme of research into the relationship between public health and environmental sustainability. His nutrition research focuses on influences of food choice. He has published several articles on the development and validation of nutrient profile models (models that classify foods on the basis of their nutritional composition), and is involved in projects estimating the health impact of health-related taxes and subsidies in the UK, New Zealand and Denmark. He is also working on a NPRI-funded project investigating the role of front-of-pack food labelling in food choices.

He is involved in the development of models that estimate the population-level health impact of changes in behavioural risk factors. He was the lead researcher in the development of the DIETRON model, which has been used in several analyses of the role of diet in health. This model is currently being developed into a wider model that incorporates physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption. The model will also be used to examine tensions and synergies between public health and environmental goals.

Pete has worked for the BHF Health Promotion Research Group in various capacities since 2003. He received a DPhil in public health in 2009 for a thesis investigating geographic variations in coronary heart disease rates in England. Pete studied mathematics at undergraduate level, and retains an interest in statistics and mathematical modelling.