Drinkaware appoints new Chief Medical Advisor

Dr Sim will take up the role in November 2017 in succession to Professor Paul Wallace, the current Chief Medical Advisor to Drinkaware, who will be retiring from this role after eight years.

As the Chief Medical Advisor Dr Sim will chair Drinkaware’s independent Medical Advisory Panel, whose role is to ensure that the charity’s advice and information is based on the most up to date medical evidence.

As a NHS General Practitioner, Dr Sim has direct experience of managing patients with alcohol related problems in a primary care setting and of managing alcohol related performance concerns in health care professionals. She has also published on the subject of alcohol from an evidence-based public health and policy perspective and has a strong track record as a medical and public health leader, both in the UK and internationally.

Dr Sim has had a distinguished career in Public Health having held a number of senior NHS roles including Medical Director of Bedfordshire and Luton PCT Cluster, Director of Public Health and a Trust Executive Medical Director in Barnet. She has also been Head of Public Health Development at the Department of Health and was an Associate Dean of postgraduate medicine in London.

Fiona is currently Senior Clinical Adviser, NHS England (Central Midlands) and retains academic appointments as honorary senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and as a Visiting Professor at the University of Bedfordshire. Her main academic interest is in building capacity to improve population health. She is also joint Editor in Chief of the international peer-reviewed journal Public Health, a special adviser to the Royal Society for Public Health and a Medical Appraiser for the UK Faculty of Public Health.

Dr Sim was Chair of Council of the Royal Society for Public Health from 2012 to 2016 and was awarded an OBE for services to Public Health in 2015.

Commenting on the appointment, Sir Leigh Lewis, Chair of Drinkaware’s Board of Trustees said:

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Dr Fiona Sim as Drinkaware’s new Chief Medical Advisor, in this our 10th anniversary year.

“Her wealth of experience will be an enormous asset as we build on the highly successful and distinguished work of our outgoing Chief Medical Advisor, Professor Paul Wallace, and continue fulfilling Drinkware’s mission of reducing alcohol related harm.

“We are very much looking forward to working with her.”

Dr Fiona Sim OBE said:

“I am delighted to be joining Drinkaware as its independent Chief Medical Advisor.

“Drinkaware has a unique role in providing alcohol education in the UK and, in so doing, makes an important contribution to wider efforts to reduce alcohol harm. I am greatly looking forward to working with colleagues across the organisation and beyond as we continue to help people make better, more informed choices about alcohol.”