Active Lives HIT welcomes new directors

The Active Lives Health Integration Team welcomed two new directors – Lisa Wood and Professor Fiona Cramp – to its leadership team this year.

Lisa Wood, appointed in June 2022, is Senior Manager (Health and Physical Activity) at Wesport.

Wesport is a local charity and Active Partnership for the West of England, with the vision to support people to become more physically active and enjoy both the physical and mental health benefits that an active lifestyle can bring.

Lisa says:

“Creating a local system that supports everyone to lead an active life is our driving force. We must focus on the inequalities that exist in activity levels across our communities and challenge the causes of this. Our visions directly align as this is also core to the work of the Active Lives HIT, hence my pleasure at being appointed as a director.”

Fiona Cramp is Professor of Long Term Conditions and Director of the Centre for Health and Clinical Research at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). Her research examines how people can be supported to engage with physical activity alongside the challenges of managing a health condition.

She replaces Professor Charlie Foster, who stepped down from the role in October. We would like to thank Charlie for his expertise and enthusiasm, in particular helping to steer the HIT’s focus towards addressing health inequalities and improving physical activity across the life course.

Fiona says:

“I am delighted to have been appointed to the role of Active Lives director as I believe that the HITs are critical to ensuring real world relevancy of our research, including the involvement of all key stakeholders from inception to delivery and dissemination. Through this role I intend to foster stronger links between the Centre for Health and Clinical Research, as well as academia more generally and the Active Lives HIT, with the intention of improving physical activity support for everyone in our region.”