Professor Paul Johnstone was director of public health for NHS North of England and substantively the regional director of public health for Yorkshire and the Humber since 2002. Paul has worked in many parts of the NHS, as a hospital doctor, GP and manager. 

He previously volunteered and worked in Pakistan, Sudan and West Indies in refugee and crisis situations. He then trained in public health in the Oxford Region and London and worked for the Cochrane Collaboration and Oxford University as an honorary senior lecturer. In 1999 he became director of public health with a chair in public health in Teesside, then as medical director for Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority before taking up the Yorkshire and the Humber post. 

Paul has published extensively on management and international public health. He established the International Committee of the Faculty of Public Health and has led a number of national initiatives, most recently as co-chair of a national task force to ensure healthcare public health advice is available to NHS commissioners. Paul is also a visiting professor at Leeds Metropolitan University.