Healing Arts Scotland Conference Speaker
Gregor Smith was appointed as Chief Medical Officer for Scotland in December 2020, having assumed the role of Interim Chief Medical Officer in April 2020. Prior to this, from 2015, he was Deputy Chief Medical Officer. His clinical specialty is general practice and after 15 years as a partner in a GP practice in South Lanarkshire, he began working part-time for Scottish Government in 2012 as a medical adviser in primary care. He has also undertaken a number of operational leadership roles, including health board chief executive, medical director and clinical network lead.
Gregor is the independent principal clinical and public health adviser to Scottish ministers and leads a Scottish Government directorate comprising four divisions; a medical advisory division, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer division, the Chief Scientist (Health) division and a policy division. He has been a co-author and co-developer of the renowned Realistic Medicine approach to care since its inception in 2016.
His stated priorities include action on health inequalities, the climate emergency and healthcare sustainability through the development of a culture of stewardship in NHS Scotland. The need to develop values-based approaches that provide kind person-centred care, reduce harm and waste, and foster innovation and improvement, lie at the heart of his professional philosophy.
He is enthusiastic about keeping fit and believes getting outside and participating in physical activity can help improve people’s physical, mental and social health. He is an Honorary Professor of the University of Glasgow, having graduated there in 1994. As a first generation university graduate, he is a powerful advocate of widening access to higher education and participates in the Speakers for Schools programme. He is a Scottish Quality and Safety Fellow, and a Salzburg Global Fellow. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Faculty of Public Health and the Royal Society of Public Health.
In 2022, he was bestowed a knighthood in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for services to public health.
