Dr Catherine Mbema has worked as the Director of Public Health in the London Borough of Lewisham since 2020. She was born in London to parents of Ghanaian heritage and studied medicine at Imperial College London. She subsequently trained in public health across a number of local authorities in South-East London and Public Health England. She is passionate about improving public health and reducing health inequalities for the communities that she works on behalf of. She has previously held several public health leadership roles, including FPH Local Board Member for London and Association of Directors of Public Health London (ADPHL) vice-chair. She now co-leads the Public Health Tackling Racism and Inequality programme on behalf of ADPHL.