Dr Nekisa Zakeri
Dr Nekisa Zakeri brings a hepatologist’s eye to public-facing journalism, using data and clinical experience to explain why liver cancer deaths are rising and how prevention and surveillance can change that trajectory. She writes for The Conversation and related outlets on liver cancer as a largely preventable cause of death, translating specialist knowledge into clear guidance on risk, early detection and system-level responses. Her pieces emphasise concrete burdens, such as the thousands of liver cancer deaths recorded each year in the UK, and connect them directly to modifiable drivers of liver disease.
Liver cancer deaths are rapidly increasing
In her lead article on liver cancer, Dr Zakeri focuses on the sharp rise in deaths and frames the issue as an urgent but solvable public health problem. She sets out how liver cancer mortality has climbed quickly and notes that more than 6,000 people die from liver cancer every year in the UK, anchoring her commentary in specific national figures rather than general claims. The core argument of this coverage is that the major drivers of liver cancer are largely preventable, so prevention and early intervention should sit at the centre of any response. She links mortality trends to underlying liver disease and risk factors such as cirrhosis and viral hepatitis, keeping a tight focus on the pathways from chronic liver damage to cancer. The tone is explanatory rather than polemical: she lays out what is happening to liver cancer deaths, why it is happening, and where targeted action on causes and early diagnosis could have the greatest impact.
Liver cancer surveillance explained
Dr Zakeri’s public work also includes explainer content on liver cancer surveillance, where she speaks directly to people living with liver disease and those at higher risk of cancer. In collaborations with health providers and liver charities, she answers questions on who is most at risk for liver cancer and why regular surveillance is important. These pieces describe what patients can expect if they are offered surveillance, breaking down the process in plain language to reduce uncertainty and encourage engagement with monitoring programmes. She frames surveillance as a practical route to catching cancers earlier in people with underlying liver conditions such as cirrhosis or viral hepatitis, reinforcing the connection between chronic liver disease, risk and the need for structured follow-up. Across this work she focuses on clarity and reassurance, explaining technical concepts like “surveillance” in accessible terms while keeping the emphasis on informed decision-making and shared understanding between clinicians and patients.
Clinical and research lens on gastrointestinal disease
Dr Zakeri writes and speaks from a defined clinical and academic role as a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Consultant Hepatologist, and as a group leader at Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London. Her clinical specialty is liver disease and liver cancer, and this focus shapes both her topic choices and the way she structures arguments for a general audience. Alongside her public commentary, she has published research on gastrointestinal conditions, including work on diagnostic imaging in inflammatory bowel disease, which underlines her broader expertise across hepatology and related areas of gut medicine. That dual perspective — frontline hepatology and gastrointestinal research — informs her emphasis on early diagnosis, appropriate imaging and systematic surveillance in people with chronic liver conditions. In her journalism she consistently returns to preventable causes of liver cancer, the potential of vaccination and treatment for viral hepatitis, and the value of organised follow-up for people with cirrhosis, keeping the link tight between scientific evidence, clinical standards and practical policy options. Her bylines and media appearances present a coherent through-line: using specialist knowledge in liver disease to push for prevention, earlier detection and more effective care pathways for those at risk of liver cancer.
4 more health journalists.
Alex Storey
Alex Storey is a journalist at LBC whose work is driven by specific cases that test professional conduct and accountability in health and the public sector. He covers health as his main beat, focusing on the point where individual decisions by clinicians or officials meet public trust in institutions. His reporting is incident-first and case-led, using concrete episodes to show how rules, ethics and policy work in real life. Recent pieces include a disciplinary case where a nurse was struck off after linking a patient’s cancer to Covid jabs, and coverage of civil servants being “paid to play Grand Theft Auto” as “lived experience” training. Across these stories, he examines how professionals, regulators and officials explain their decisions, and what that reveals about trust, responsibility and the standards expected of people in positions of authority.
Alexandra Thompson
Alexandra Thompson is an assistant news editor focused on health who treats health claims as hypotheses to be tested rather than messages to be repeated. She works at New Scientist, combining editing with frontline reporting on ageing brains, cognitive health, chronic illness, contested treatments and infectious disease. Her beat centres on how neuroscience and psychology intersect with everyday health choices and on how scientific findings translate into real-world outcomes for people living with illness. She examines lifestyle advice, rehabilitation programmes and outbreak guidance against current evidence, clarifying risk without overstating it and giving space to controversy without sensationalising it. Alongside written news she appears in audio and video formats, bringing the same clear, news-driven approach to live discussions and helping shape the daily health agenda while keeping a tight focus on evidence and impact.
Alice Wilkinson
Alice Wilkinson investigates how everyday habits, products and routines shape sleep and long-term wellbeing, using test-driven health features to separate hype from real benefit. She holds a senior role on The Telegraph’s health features team, writing and shaping consumer-focused coverage that blends personal trial with clear expert evidence. Her core beat is sleep as a practical, solvable part of daily life, from detailed comparisons of magnesium supplements to service pieces on how sleeping position affects health over time. She treats supplements as a crowded, over-claimed market that demands careful testing and clear-eyed reporting. Alongside long-form features she writes weekly health desk dispatches on sleep, stress and concentration. Across her work she combines substantial self-testing, specialist insight and plain, unfussy prose to give readers measurable, realistic changes they can make.
Ally Head
Ally Head connects performance-focused fitness reporting with women’s health, sustainability and relationships, using her own endurance training and health history to stress-test trends against expert guidance. She is Senior Health, Sustainability and Relationships Editor at Marie Claire UK, where she shapes the health agenda across training, wellbeing and conscious living and writes and commissions news, topical features and SEO-led long-form pieces. A ten-time marathoner and Boston-qualifying runner, she focuses on structured, realistic training plans, strength and conditioning for women who run, and performance longevity. Her women’s health work centres on hormones, chronic conditions and fact versus fiction wellness claims. She also covers sustainability as conscious living and relationships, mental resilience and lifestyle features, favouring plain language, lived experience, specialist commentary and clear, repeatable routines. She has previously produced similar content for Women’s Health, Stylist, Glamour and Grazia.