Kate Pickett is an epidemiologist who studies the social determinants of health and health inequalities.
She is Professor for the Public Understanding of Social Science, Director of the Born in Bradford Centre for Social Change and leads the Public Health & Society research group, all at the University of York. Kate is an academic co-director of Health Equity North
She is author of The Good Society (2026) and co-author, with Richard Wilkinson, of The Spirit Level (2009) and The Inner Level (2018).
Kate is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow by Distinction of the UK Faculty of Public Health, and a Fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences. She was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List, 2023 for services to societal equality.
Kate works and campaigns at global, national and local levels. Internationally, she is a full member of the Club of Rome and a trustee of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. In the UK, she is a co-founder and patron of The Equality Trust. She chaired the Greater Manchester Independent Inequalities Commission and served on the Community Wealth Building Commission for York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority. Local to York, she is a patron of St Nicks Centre for Nature and Green Living.
Kate is a lead researcher with the Born in Bradford research programme.
Kate attended a comprehensive school, The Ecclesbourne School, in Derbyshire, then studied Archaeology & Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, focusing on biological anthropology. She lived for 16 years in the USA, where she received a Master’s in Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, and a PhD in Epidemiology at University of California, Berkeley. After four years as an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago, she returned to the UK. Kate was an NIHR Career Scientist from 2007-2012.
Follow her on Twitter and Bluesky at @ProfKEPickett.
