Rate My Professor Gerard McCartney

Professor Gerard McCartney serves as Professor of Wellbeing Economy in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow, with an additional associate role in the School of Health and Wellbeing. He graduated in medicine from the University of Glasgow, completed GP vocational training in Paisley, and obtained an honours degree in Economics and Development from the University of London while working as a junior doctor. His academic qualifications include MBChB, BSc(Hons), MPH, MD from the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit on the impacts of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and FFPH. Early in his career, he participated in the public health training scheme at NHS Argyll and Clyde and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, contributing to the 2007 E.coli outbreak response in Paisley and conducting needs assessments for east end Glasgow communities. He later worked at the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, producing the first synthesis of causes of excess mortality in Scotland and Glasgow. From 2010 to 2021, McCartney was Head of the Scottish Public Health Observatory at NHS Health Scotland and subsequently Public Health Scotland. He joined the University of Glasgow as Professor in September 2021.

McCartney's research specializations encompass wellbeing economies, focusing on redesigning economic systems to prioritize health, equity, ecology, and social outcomes; population health, including stalled mortality trends, excess mortality in Scotland, and health inequalities; political economy and health causal relationships; and evaluation of public policy. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health since 2012 and serves as Part A Examiner for the Faculty since 2021. Key publications include the book 'Social murder? Austerity and life expectancy in the UK' (Policy Press, 2025); 'What is a Wellbeing Economy, and what might its impact be on population health?' (Lancet Public Health, 2025); 'Austerity, neoliberalism and population health' in Handbook on the Social Determinants of Health (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025); 'Trends in UK mortality reflect a public health failure' (BMJ, 2025); and his PhD thesis 'Political economy and population health: from theory to an empirical assessment of the impact of austerity on mortality trends' (University of Glasgow, 2022). His contributions have advanced understanding of austerity's effects on population health and advocated for wellbeing-oriented economic policies.