Lisa Ackerley

Lisa Ackerley MCIEH, CEnvH, FRSPH is a Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner.
Education
In 1984 Ackerley gained a First Class Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in environmental health from Bristol Polytechnic (now University of the West of England). Her thesis examined the survival of Campylobacter jejuni on kitchen surfaces and also uncovered that many GPs were unaware of the organism. This led to the publication of her first academic paper with Alan Jones.
Ackerley also earned a PhD from the University of Birmingham. Her thesis covered the subject of consumer awareness of food poisoning and food hygiene. She examined the factors that influence behaviour change in the context of the Health Belief Model.
Career
Ackerley went to work at the Cherwell District Council in 1984 as an environmental health officer. Following this, she moved to Thames Polytechnic (now University of Greenwich) where she became senior lecturer in food law and practice, teaching on the undergraduate environmental health programme.
In 1990 she was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to travel to the US and Canada to study concepts of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP). This involved visiting the Pillsbury factory in Minneapolis, where HACCP was formed at the behest of NASA.
Ackerley sold her business which she had run with Graham Murphy since 1987, Hygiene Audit Systems Ltd in 2015 but is still hands on, appearing as an expert witness from time to time giving evidence on food safety issues. In the 1990s she was a crown expert at the fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the E. coli deaths associated with the John M. Barr & Son butcher shop a Salmonella outbreak in a nursery, another FAI in Scotland and produces reports for legal firms in respect of sentencing guidelines.
Ackerley was appointed to the editorial board for Perspectives in Public Health, a bi-monthly peer-reviewed publication produce by the RSPH in October 2012.
In 2015 Ackerley was appointed as a Special Advisers to the board of pub and restaurant safety specialist Acoura.
Since 2015, Ackerley has been Food Safety Adviser for the British Hospitality Association, now UKHospitality. She has assisted with the publication of the UKH Catering Industry Guide and the Acrylamide Guide, and attends meetings with the Food Standards Agency Expert Group in relation to Regulating our Future and on behalf of UKH sits on the SALSA board.
With Professor Sally Bloomfield at the IFH, Lisa works on the Horizon 2020 Safeconsume Project with European partners. This project seeks to reduce food borne illness and takes a particular focus on food safety in the home.
Public appearances
Ackerley is a Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner and in the same year was appointed a Professorial Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health. From 2011 to 2012 Ackerley taught on the MSc Environmental Health Course at King's College London.
As a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health Ackerley is involved in Members' events, for example speaking at the June 2008 Members evening on E. coli O157. As a food safety adviser to the Society, and chair of the Food Special Interest Group. She chairs regular webinars including one on Salmonella, Salmonella: investigating outbreaks and preventing illness.
Ackerley (known as The Hygiene Doctor) and as the food safety expert on BBC1 Rogue Restaurants, a spin-off of Rogue Traders, with Matt Allwright and Anita Rani. Ackerley was the health expert on the BBC1 program Secret Tourist where she travelled to an array of locations examining the conditions of the hotels, and also appeared on the BBC1 show Save our Holiday. Most recently Ackerley has appeared on Holiday Hit Squad with Angela Rippon, Helen Skelton and Joe Crowley, advising hoteliers with poor and often dangerous standards on improving hygiene and safety. She regularly provides interviews for radio and press on environmental health issues, and is a regular on the Jonathan Vernon-Smith show on BBC Three Counties Radio.
Ackerley often leads hygiene studies for major brands, explaining the need for targeted hygiene. She is Trustee, Vice Chair and Scientific Adviser to International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene.

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