Some eyebrows were raised three years ago when the Health Protection Agency (HPA) was created by merging several organisations that seemed to be doing a perfectly good job on their own.

But then came the murder of Alexander Litvinenko with polonium-210. “It could almost have been set up to demonstrate the good sense of combining radiological protection with public health,” says Justin McCracken, who has just taken over from Pat Troop as chief executive of the HPA.

Potentially, the huge dose given to Litvinenko could have put many other people at risk.

“As an outsider, I was incredibly impressed with how well it was handled,” he says. “It was a fantastic success and it wouldn't have been as good if the National Radiological Protection Board and the Public Health Laboratory Service had still been separate bodies.”

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McCracken, a physicist who spent 20 years with ICI before moving into the public sector, is not looking for a similar crisis to prove his effectiveness, but says that there are plenty of threats on the horizon - from chemicals to pandemic flu and the health implications of a new generation of nuclear power stations.

He is keen to make the HPA's voice louder without detracting from the agency's authority. He talks of taking advice to the next step - that of ensuring that people act on it. “In healthcare-related infections such as MRSA, for example, our advice needs to be authoritative, but we need to do more than that. Our role is to help to develop evidence and make sure that those who can act on it are given it and do act on it,” he says.

Might this not lead to conflict? “Not so long as we follow the evidence,” he says. “Let's take sexually transmitted infections. If we decided there was clear evidence that the service was being underfunded, it would be an uncomfortable message for the Government, but it would be our duty as a board to make that public.”

Like his predecessor, McCracken believes that chemical threats have been underestimated. This derives, in his case, from his spell with the Environment Agency in the North West, an area with a long industrial legacy.

“Infectious disease surveillance is much more developed than is our knowledge of chemical hazards. It's important and extremely difficult, and understanding has a long way to go. Nobody can claim that we really understand the threats.”

McCracken says that a potential weakness in dealing with some threats to health comes from the agency's relations with some primary care trusts. “We have different relationships with different PCTs, and what partners can expect of each other is not as clear as I would like.”

He also plans a big effort to develop the skills of his staff. He recalls his first day at the Environment Agency after moving from ICI. He was told by a colleague: “You've got a very committed staff - committed to the environment, not the agency.” He wants to make sure that staff at the HPA are committed to the agency and have every chance of developing their full potential as the next generation of public health professionals.

He also wants a bigger research programme. “I think in the past few years R&D has not been at the top of people's minds. We probably haven't been doing quite enough.”

After six years at the HSE, he tired of the claim that the agency was a killjoy intent on removing risk from life. After a ten-year-old died on a trip to the Lake District, he defended adventure activities: “School trips are a vital part of a child's education. It would be a sad day if misplaced risk aversion deprived them of such activities.”

Born: April 28, 1955, Lancashire

Career: ICI, 1976-97, managing director ICI Kotalco 1997-98; joined Environment Agency as regional director for the North West, 1998; deputy chief executive, Health and Safety Executive 2002-08. Became HPA chief executive in April.

What he says: “Protecting public health is about identifying the threats at the earliest possible stage, analysing the risks and delivering the expert information, support and advice to enable people to take the necessary steps to protect themselves and others.”

Little-known fact: Loves ginger (preferably with chocolate) and early morning cycle rides.

Nigel Hawkes is

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