John Lister has been a journalist since 1975 and specialised in health policy issues since 1984 when he became Information Director of (then GLC-funded) pressure group London Health Emergency, which developed the first evidence-based critique of austerity cutbacks, privatisation and the introduction of competitive market reforms to the British National Health Service.

John achieved a PhD in health policy in 2004, and has since authored and co-authored books on global health policy (2005 and 2013) and England’s NHS (2008, 2015 and most recently NHS Under Siege, 2022).

Internationally, John has worked on a WHO-funded project on health systems, worked in Canada with the Ontario Health Coalition, and has been a board member and organised and spoken at conferences for the International Association of Health Policy in Europe (IAHPE).

He was an associate senior lecturer in health policy, journalism and health journalism at Coventry University 2004-2013, and edited and contributed to the first-ever e-book on health journalism (First Do No Harm, 2014).

John was a founder member of Keep Our NHS Public (2005) and of Health Campaigns Together (2016). In January 2019, with Paul Evans of NHS Support Federation, he launched and still co-edits The Lowdown, giving free online news on NHS and health services (https://lowdownnhs.info).

John lives with wife Sue in Leamington Spa. He is a member of honour of the National Union of Journalists.