
How to improve urban health: Lessons from cities around the world
Our health can be shaped by where we grow up, live and work. For the majority of us, that’s now in cities and other urban areas.
Kieron Boyle leads three connected efforts to grow the impact economy.
Widely recognised as a global leader in the field, he works across ventures, research, and policy to shape innovations, understand what works, and anchor change for the long term.
Kieron is Chief Executive of 100x, a world-leading initiative creating the next generation of ‘social unicorns’ — ventures positively impacting a billion lives. He is a Professor in Practice and Director at the LSE’s Marshall Institute, where he leads a new global platform to shape the future of the impact economy. As Chair of the UK’s Impact Investing Institute, he helps set national strategy on impact capital, aiming to unlock £1 trillion for investments that improve people's lives.
Previously, Kieron was CEO of Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, one of the world’s oldest health philanthropies. He transformed the organisation’s approach to capital and influence, leading a strategic shift in its £1 billion endowment, building one of Europe’s leading impact investment portfolios, and launching pioneering models of urban health.
In government, he was the architect of the UK’s first impact investment strategy. He played a founding role in Better Society Capital, the Global Steering Group on Impact Investment, the Government Outcomes Lab, the Dementia Discovery Fund, and introducing the B Corp movement to the UK.
He has held senior roles at No.10 Downing Street — where he was part of the UK government’s response to the global financial crisis — as well as the Cabinet Office and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, following an early career at Boston Consulting Group in New York.
Kieron now co-leads the UK’s taskforce on impact capital, chairs a $7 trillion investor alliance on health, and is a Governor of the Southbank Centre. He has served on the boards of the UK Design Council and the South London Life Sciences District. He was the first person to receive an OBE for services to the impact economy, is the UK’s first professor in the field, and has been recognised as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
Our health can be shaped by where we grow up, live and work. For the majority of us, that’s now in cities and other urban areas.
When it comes to the public debate around health, we tend to think of one side of the ledger — costs. But there’s another side, too. Health is an asset. It’s created by good living and wo...
Il y a quarante ans, environ 1 enfant sur 100 était obèse. Aujourd’hui, ils sont 6 pour cent, à l’échelle mondiale. Et au Royaume-Uni ? 20 pour cent.
Hace cuarenta años, alrededor de uno de cada 100 niños era obeso. A nivel mundial, ahora cerca de seis cada 100 niños son obesos. ¿Y en el Reino Unido? 20.
Forty years ago, around 1 in 100 children were obese. Globally, it’s now close to 6. And in the UK? 20.