Gerry Stimson

Gerry Stimson is a public health sociologist, with over 40 years’ experience of public health research and advocacy.

One of the founders of drugs harm reduction in the 1980s, he was an instrumental part of research into the harm reduction response to HIV/AIDS.

Gerry Stimson is an advocate for tobacco harm reduction as a key strategy for reducing smoking related harms, including the use of lower risk nicotine products to help smokers switch from smoking.

He is director of Knowledge-Action-Change, which runs the Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme and the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction Project.

Gerry Stimson helps organise the annual Global Forum on Nicotine conference which brings together policy analysts, academics, consumer organisations, manufacturers of nicotine products, and regulators to discuss the science and policy of new nicotine products.

Throughout his career, Gerry Stimson has published over 220 scientific publications and several books. He is an Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London, and was previously an Editor of the International Journal of Drug Policy. He was also Executive Director of the International Harm Reduction Association from 2004 to 2010.