Biography
Nigel Unwin is a part time Director of Research in Global Public Research at the MRC Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, and a part time Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health at the University of Exeter. He also maintains a relationship with the University of the West Indies as an honorary Professor of Population Health Sciences at the Caribbean Institute for Health Research.
Nigel is a public health physician, with track record in studying the burden, prevention and control of chronic non-communicable diseases, especially diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Much of this work has been in low and middle income country settings. Over the past 5 to 6 years he has led and collaborated on work into the relationships between aspects of food systems and health outcomes, particularly non-communicable diseases, in small island states in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Research
Current research includes: assessing the success and impact of policy measures for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) across 20 Caribbean countries and territories; investigating health inequities in the Caribbean, particularly related to diabetes and CVD; using systems thinking and modelling to inform policy decision making around diabetes prevention and control; evaluating the impact of fiscal measures on diet, such as the tax on sugar sweetened beverages in Barbados, and elsewhere; and the feasibility of a short low calorie diet to improve diabetes control and in some to achieve remission of diabetes.
