Giovanni Leonardi is an environmental epidemiologist and public health specialist employed by the UK's public health agency. He is an Honorary Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His role is assessing environmental hazards for their possible health effects at the population level and applying the evidence base to design environmental public health services and information systems. He holds an MD and an MSc in Environmental Epidemiology and Policy, followed by specific experience in the environmental health public sector since 1994, both as a scientist and public official. He has skills in facilitating the complex coordination of inputs from specialists in a range of institutions and has worked on international projects since 1994. Themes have included air pollution effects on children, water contamination and the effects on cancer, persistent organic pollutants and the effects on the endocrine and immune systems, and the health effects of flooding.