Sir Michael Marmot awarded annual GGI good governance award for health inequalities work

Sir Michael Marmot, Director at the UCL Institute of Health Equity, has been named as the recipient of the 2021 Good Governance Award. He will be honoured at the Good Governance Institute’s (GGI) annual lecture on 22 September 2021.

GGI are awarding Sir Michael Marmot for his extensive and dedicated work on health inequalities. 11 years ago he wrote the original review into health inequality asking for a ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives’. A recent follow-up report showed that little has changed, as outlined in a recent GGI article. Today, Boris Johnson addressed this in a key speech, in which he refers to ‘leveling up’ the country by ‘rewriting the rulebook’ on local power to ensure all areas of England have the same power to have the ‘tool to make things happen for their communities’.

GGI’s Chief Executive, Professor Andrew Corbett-Nolan said: “Sir Michael Marmot has played a significant part in providing evidence-based decision making in the public sector. He has also delivered excellent work on the good governance principle of fairness through addressing inequalities in society.”

In his long and prestigious career, Sir Michael has achieved so much in his work across health, social care, academia and environmental behaviour. He has been incredibly impressive at driving forward the very public setting of standards of corporate behaviour in public – especially with regards to the Marmot Review, which looked at inequalities in health across the UK.

Before becoming the Director at the UCL Institute of Health Equity, he was a member of the Royal Commission Environmental Pollution before becoming chair of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health set up by the World Health Organisation in 2005. Previously he has served as president of the World Medical Association and has authored several books including ‘The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World’ (2005).

The annual lecture on 22 September is part of the Festival of Governance. GGI’s Festival of Governance runs from 31 August – 30 September 2021 and this year focuses on flipping the script – finding alternative ways to make improvements through the integration of intentions, mindset, systems and culture. All events are free and run digitally so you can join from anywhere in the world.