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COT Secretariat
Food Standards Agency
Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London WC2B 6NH

Tel: 020 7276 8522
Fax: 020 7276 8513

cot@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

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COT Chair

Professor David Coggon OBE MA PhD DM FRCP FFOM FFPH FMedSci Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre, University of Southampton.

Professor David Coggon OBE, is Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Southampton, where he works in the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Resource Centre. He has been engaged in epidemiological research for more than 30 years, concentrating mainly on occupational and environmental causes of disease. He is particularly interested in the relation of musculoskeletal disorders to physical activities and other risk factors in the workplace, and in the risks associated with chemical hazards at work and in the general environment.

Professor Coggon studied mathematics and medicine at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in the 1970s. After junior hospital posts in General Medicine at Nottingham City Hospital, he joined the MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit in Southampton in 1980. In 1984, he was awarded a PhD on occupational causes of cancer, and in 1993, he received a DM for his work on the epidemiology of stomach cancer. He completed his specialist training in Occupational Medicine in 1987, and in 1997, he was awarded a personal chair by the University of Southampton. In 2005, he joined the newly formed MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre.

Professor Coggon is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and of its Faculty of Occupational Medicine, where he was Academic Registrar from 1993-96, and will be President during 2008-11. In 1998, he became a founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He was Ernestine Henry lecturer at the Royal College of Physicians in 1996, Ferguson-Glass lecturer at the Australasian Faculty of Occupational Medicine in 1998; Alexander Howard Memorial lecturer at the RCP Faculty of Occupational Medicine in 2000, Simms lecturer at the Royal College of Physicians in 2001, and Colt Foundation Memorial lecturer at the RCP Faculty of Occupational Medicine in 2004. During 1998–2000 he served on the COT Working Group on Organophosphates and the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (both DH). He has also been a member of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (DWP) and the Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (DETR), and an expert advisor for the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. From 2000 to 2005 he was Chair of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (Defra), and from 2001-2007 he chaired the Depleted Uranium Oversight Board (MOD). He is currently a member of the Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation (HPA), and of the Plant Protection Products and Residues Panel at the European Food Safety Authority. He was awarded an OBE in 2002.

Professor Coggon is committed to promoting better public understanding of scientific risk assessment, and believes strongly in the value of open and accessible discussion about known and suspected environmental health hazards.

Professor Coggon joined the COT as a member on 1 April 2007, and became Chair of the Committee on 1 April 2008. His appointment will expire on 31 March 2011.