Penny Cook is Professor of Public Health and Associate Dean for Research & Innovation for the School of Health and Society at the University of Salford. She leads the UK’s largest academic research group dedicated to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Her work focuses on understanding the prevalence, impact, and effective interventions for FASD, a condition resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure. In collaboration with the National FASD Clinic and Professor Raja Mukherjee, Penny has conducted pivotal studies revealing that FASD may affect 2–4% of UK children. She leads the SPECIFiC project, funded by the Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health and Care Research, and charitable organisations, which aims to develop and evaluate a parenting intervention for families affected by FASD. Beyond FASD, Penny has a strong track record in alcohol harm reduction research. She led the Communities in Charge of Alcohol (CICA) project, an NIHR-funded initiative that trained community volunteers as alcohol health champions to provide brief advice and engage in local alcohol licensing decisions. Her interdisciplinary research also encompasses public health areas such as sexual health, health inequalities, and the health benefits of green spaces. She is a co-investigator on the GreenME project, a Horizon Europe-funded study exploring nature-based therapies to improve mental health and wellbeing equity.