Robert Hughes initially trained and practiced clinical medicine at Bristol University. After that, he completed his Masters in Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health as a Kennedy Scholar. From there, he joined the UK Department for International Development (DFID – now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) as a Health/Nutrition Adviser, in a series of roles working in Pakistan, Yemen, Whitehall and then leading the UKaid human development programme in Zambia.

He subsequently joined the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) in London as a Senior Fellow to lead development of their Early Childhood Development strategy and programming and supporting work to build linkages between global health and climate portfolios. In addition to my role at LSHTM he works/has worked as a consultant to the Clean Air Fund (a philanthropic initiative with a mission to tackle air pollution around the world), Google X, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, WHO, and DFID.