Dr. Justin Varney

Dr Justin Varney joined Birmingham City Council in 2019 building on a career that has spanned local, regional, national and international public health. Since training originally as a GP and then transferring to public health medicine he has held a wide range of roles including National Lead for Adult Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England and Thinker in Residence at the University of Sydney. He has a broad range of special interests including physical activity, workplace health and lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans health inequalities and is an independent advisor to the National Council for Health and Work and a Board Member for the Food Standards Agency. Dr Varney was awarded three honorary degrees by major universities in Birmingham for his work with higher education during the pandemic and holds an honorary chair at the Institute of Applied Research at the University of Birmingham. He lives in Birmingham with his husband who is a local GP working in East Birmingham and is a passionate champion of our city and its diverse culture.