Aisha Holloway's Inaugural Lecture

Once described as the most dangerous drug in the UK, by a considerable margin, alcohol results in 3.3 million deaths worldwide every year from harmful use (5.9% of all deaths) and is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions. This lecture traces the academic and professional career of a nurse who, over the past 23 years, has focused on the development and evaluation of theoretically developed behavioural interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm.

How do we develop alcohol interventions that will effect change? What are the key behavioural and theoretical elements? How do we understand better the mechanism for change and develop logic models to test our assumptions? The lecture will explore how attempts to understand and answers these questions can translate into a potential reduction in the risks and harms of alcohol in society. Alongside this, I will also highlight my professional and personal journey and commitment to develop political leadership to lead, shape and inform the contribution of the nursing profession and elevate its global positioning of influence.