Kate Pickett
Professor of Epidemiology

Profile

Biography

Kate trained in biological anthropology at University of Cambridge, nutritional sciences at Cornell University and epidemiology at UC-Berkeley. She is currently Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Health Sciences, where she leads the Public Health & Society research group and Associate Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity, all at the University of York. She is an academic co-director of Health Equity North.

Kate is a Fellow of the RSA and of the UK Faculty of Public Health and the Academy of Social Sciences. She is co-author, with Richard Wilkinson, of the award-winning and best-selling The Spirit Level (2009) and The Inner Level (2018). The Spirit Level was awarded Publication of the Year by the Political Studies Association, chosen as one of the Top Ten Books of the Decade by the New Statesman, and one of the top 100 books of the century by the Guardian. She is a co-founder and patron of The Equality Trust. In 2023, Kate received an OBE for services to societal equality. 

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) 
• MS 
• PhD

Research

Research group(s)

• Public Health and Society

Supervision

• Kate supervises students interested in the social determinants of health and health inequalities

Publications

Full publications list

• Kate Pickett's publications

Commentary and Reports

• British Academy opinion piece on health inequality, January 2014 
• Comment in Nature, January 2014
• A call for change: from the crisis to a new egalitarian ideal for Europe

Appendices to Published Papers

• Appendix for Income Inequality and Health: A Casual Review (PDF , 179kb) (Emerging Behaviours and Social Science Perspectives on Population Health)

External activities

Memberships

• Board Member - Scientific Board to the Progressive Economy
• Executive Board, Born in Bradford Cohort Study
• Associate, INRICH (International Network for Research on Inequalities in Child Health)
• Member, Human Capital Research Working Group, Institute for New Economic Thinking
• Member, Campaign for Childhood Committee, The Children’s Society
• Advisory Group, European Union Equity Action
• Expert Panel, High Pay Commission, 2010-2011
• Commissioner, York Fairness Commission, 2011
• Expert advisory panel, Preparing for Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond, Department of Health, 2009-2010
• Steering Group, Impact of inequality and materialism on children’s well-being.  Ipsos-Mori and Unicef UK, 2010-2011
• Steering Committee, Alliance for Sustainability and Prosperity (ASAP)

Invited talks and conferences

• Invited by the King of Bhutan to take part in a United Nations project based around the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), February 2013.
• 138 keynote addresses since 2009, including in UK, USA, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Germany.