Experience

European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO)

• United Kingdom
• Wellness and Fitness Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• President

  • May 2021 - Present

  It is great honour to start my term as president. Thanks so much to the EASO family. Great thanks to the out going president Nathalie Farpour-Lambert. A great presidency & hard act to follow.My priorities are to continue to stress personalised approaches to treatment, and to recognise the lived experience of patients, and to continue to improve the overall food environment (essential for general public health, not only for prevention of obesity, but also for improving weight maintenance post-intervention). On the treatment side we need work to ensure People Living with Obesity (PLWO) seek and receive help far sooner in their struggles with weight, and that healthcare professionals better understand the full implications of obesity as a disease. On the food environment we still need to push on marketing, advertising, nutritional labelling, reformulation and taxes. But much more than that we need to look at the food systems underpinning this. We need to make sure the healthy and sustainable option becomes the default option, and that those options are inexpensive, accessible, attractive and affordable — and importantly — are what people want.The COVID pandemic and my work with ECPO have really brought home the mental health issues associated with living with obesity. Even before the pandemic, issues of depression and anxiety were widely recognised. However, loss of access to treatment and the usual coping mechanism, combined with isolation, loneliness and fear, have added additional stresses to the lives of PLWO. In response to this, EASO will be developing a new Psychology, Behaviour and Mental Health group to guide education, research, and advocacy in this area.I look forward to meeting the national societies and their members and working with the EASO regional vice presidents (Volkan, Dana and Jorn), listening to your feedback, serving your needs, and providing support wherever I can. Finally, congratulations to Volkan on becoming president elect.

• President Elect

  • May 2018 - Present

  Established in 1986, EASO is a federation of professional membership associations from 36 European countries. It is the voice of the European obesity community, representing scientists, health care practitioners, physicians, public health experts, early career researchers, students and patients. EASO is in formal relations with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, coordinates the EU Obesity Policy Engagement Network (OPEN) and is a member of the EU Health Coalition and the Biomedical Alliance in Europe.The Objectives of EASO are:- To establish obesity as an urgent and relevant health and wellbeing priority- To develop evolving evidence-based approaches for preventing and treating obesity across the lifespan- To promote effective solutions through research, education and policy.Find out more at www.easo.org.

• Treasurer

  • May 2014 - May 2020

  Two terms - EASO steadily grew thanks to the hard work of staff and our members, and support from stakeholders. Increased income and expenditure allowed EASO to increase its impact in education and advocacy, establishing obesity as a clinical priority, and improving access to and quality of obesity care across Europe and beyond.



University of Leeds

• United Kingdom
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Head of School of Psychology

  • Apr 2020 - Present

  Leeds is among the top ten universities for research power in the UK. Our academic breadth, commitment to quality and determination to make a genuine impact on the world around us enables us to achieve extraordinary results in:• Creating knowledge through research and innovation.• Disseminating it through excellent student education.• Applying it to make a difference to society, culture and the economy.We have over 34,000 students, over 7,000 members of staff and a global network of more than 240,000 alumni. Integrating research and learning and teaching is at the heart of our strategy. Our courses are taught by staff who are engaged in world-class research and cutting-edge professional practice.We have strong ties with industry, and work with organisations of all sizes. Our outstanding entrepreneurial record of commercialising our research has seen us launch more spin-out companies on the AIM stock market than any other UK university.VIDEO LINK - https://www.linkedin.com/school/university-of-leeds/videos/ #TogetherLeedsArrived in Leeds during the pandemic. Great to be back (if only virtually at the moment)



ECPObesity

• Ireland
• Wellness and Fitness Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Board Member

  • May 2019 - Present

  Working collaboratively across Europe to improve the lives of people who are living with and are affected by the chronic disease of obesity through advocacy, policy and education.Initially established in 2013, to help the European scientific and clinical community better understand the patient experience. From this, the Patient Council developed into a strong voice for people living with Obesity & the patient community across Europe. We are now an independent patient led, managed, and run organisation working collaboratively across Europe.Our Vision: The EASO ECPO is a patient led, managed and run organisation working collectively to be the authoritative patient voice in Europe with respect to evidence-based approaches for obesity prevention, treatment, ongoing management and policy, by facilitating knowledge exchange, research and educating people who live with and are affected by the chronic disease of obesity.https://eurobesity.org/patient/jason-g-c-halford/



University of Liverpool

• United Kingdom
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Lecturer (1999), Senior Lecturer (2004), Reader (2006), Professor (2011)

  • Sep 1999 - Mar 2020

  Our pioneering reputation attracts students, experts and partners from around the world. Delivered Education: • Research Methods in Psychology, • Biopsychology of Motivation • Eating Behaviour and Appetite ControlRESEARCH• Developed the original Kissileff lab (named after Dr Harry Kissileff), and later associated eating behaviour labs into one of the largest such facilities in Europe. • Developed collaborative multidisciplinary research in obesity through the Liverpool Obesity Research Network (LORN), unpinning collaborations with Professor John Wilding (underpinning industry funded clinical trials and experimental medicine studies such as REBA, ENERGIZE, RESILIANT)• Commenced research on the impact of advertising on children’s eating behaviour (Initial paper Halford et al., 2004) which led to work with the World Health Organisation on regulatory guidance and monitoring and has fed into calls on banning junk food adverts.• Developed impact through collaboration with food industry to develop function ingredients and healthier foods (American Beverage Association, California Prune Board, Coca-Cola, Danone, Dupont, Ingredion, Kemin Health, Lipid Nutrition, National Starch, Nature’s Remedies, Nutraveris, Tate and Lyle, Unilever) • Co-ordinated two large EU funded studies SATIN (Framework 7, 18 partners, €6 million) and SWEET (Horizon 2020, 29 partners, €8 million)• Local lead on the WRAP weight management in primary care trial (lead from the University of Cambridge), N8-Agrifood and the iKnowFood food systems resilience collaboration (both led by the University of York)• Collaborated with the Pharmaceutical Industry in developing novel treatments for obesity or mitigating drug induced weight gain (Astra Zeneca, BMS, Eli Lilly, GSK, Orexigen, Novo Nordisk, Predix Pharmaceutical Holdings, Prosidion OSI, Sanofi-Aventis, Servier)

• Head of Department of Psychology

  • Sep 2013 - Jul 2019

  Merged three Departments of Psychology (Applied, Clinical and Experimental Psychology). Worked to form/consolidate research groups, building collaborative research. and focused on research performance,Including tenure as HoD in Experimental psychology, Psychology at Liverpool rose in ranking in the REF 2014 into the second quartile. Research income rose consistently - RAE 2008 (£6M), REF 2014 (£15.5M), REF 2021 (£24+M)

• Deputy Head of Institute, Psychology, Health and Society (IPHS)

  • 2016 - 2018

  Research Lead for the Institute and it's three Departments (Public Health,, Primary Care and Psychology)

• Head of Department Experimental Psychology

  • Feb 2010 - Aug 2013

  Led a new Department through restructuring to better exploit research potential and facilities to enhance research outputs and generate income. During this period collectively we doubled research income, postgraduate numbers and funded researchers in the Department.Psychology at Liverpool rose in ranking in the REF 2014 into the second quartile. Research income rose from RAE 2008 (£6M) to REF 2014 (£15.5M)



N8 AgriFood

• United Kingdom
• Research
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Theme Lead

  • Jul 2014 - Jun 2019

  N8 AgriFood is a unique research collaboration We combine expertise and multiple disciplines from the 8 research intensive universities in the North of England – Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York. The programme takes a food systems approach to tackling the challenges facing food security.Theme Three Lead on Health, Behaviour and Consumption during phase one. Linking academics from Social, Behaviour, Agri and Health sciences from across the N8 (Universities of Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York) through impact activities, pump priming, policy work, stakeholder engagement and the development of knowledge exchange. Supported the development of projects such as SWEET ( https://sweetproject.eu/ ) and iKnowFood ( https://iknowfood.org/ ).



Association for the Study of Obesity UK

• Chair Of The Board Of Trustees

  • Nov 2010 - Nov 2013

  The ASO is the oldest national obesity society in the world (established in 1967). Worked to rebrand and establish financial sustainability of ASO UK. Had the the enormous pleasure of bidding for and hosting the European Congress of Obesity ECO2013 in Liverpool. The ASO is the oldest national obesity society in the world (established in 1967). Worked to rebrand and establish financial sustainability of ASO UK. Had the the enormous pleasure of bidding for and hosting the European Congress of Obesity ECO2013 in Liverpool.



Columbia University

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Sabbatical

  • Jan 2006 - Jul 2006

  St Luke's Roosevelt Hospital - Obesity Research Center. Opportunity to gain new skills and build links in a World leading inter-disciplinary center St Luke's Roosevelt Hospital - Obesity Research Center. Opportunity to gain new skills and build links in a World leading inter-disciplinary center



University of Central Lancashire

• United Kingdom
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Lecturer

  • Sep 1997 - Aug 1999

  Lecturer in Health and Neuroscience. Taught individual differences, abnormal psychology and biological psychology. Lecturer in Health and Neuroscience. Taught individual differences, abnormal psychology and biological psychology.



Penn State University

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Associate Research Fellow

  • Jun 1996 - Feb 1997

  Research on the effects of volume and energy density on satiation and post meal satiety. Study lead. Research on the effects of volume and energy density on satiation and post meal satiety. Study lead.



University of Leeds

• United Kingdom
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Research Fellow

  • Oct 1994 - Jul 1996

  Research on the mechanisms underpinning serotoninergic drugs, and assessed various the potential and specificity of various monoaminergic anti-obesity drugs under development. Also worked on Orexin and Enterostatin. Research on the mechanisms underpinning serotoninergic drugs, and assessed various the potential and specificity of various monoaminergic anti-obesity drugs under development. Also worked on Orexin and Enterostatin.