Rachel Barry

Rachel Barry is a Research Fellow at the University of Bath's Department for Health, affiliated with the Centre for 21st Century Public Health. She leads the Academy for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and contributes to research coordination across diverse projects. As Vice President of ICARA, an international network addressing commercial determinants of health in low-and-middle-income countries, she focuses on regulating health-harming industries like cannabis, tobacco, pesticides, and fossil fuels. Her work emphasizes policy coherence and overcoming international regulatory barriers.

Education: PhD in Global Health Policy (University of Edinburgh, 2021), MA and BA in Political Science (San Diego State University and California State University), and a BA in Spanish (California State University).

Research interests include cannabis policy frameworks, tobacco industry interference, and the impact of international agreements on national policies. Her studies on Uruguay’s cannabis regulation have influenced global public health policies and media coverage in outlets like Time Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.

Key contributions include comparative analyses of cannabis policies in the US and New Zealand, and collaborative projects like the Public Health Wales Cannabis Project. She advises governmental bodies such as Health Canada’s Cannabis Regulation Secretariat and California’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy.

Recent projects include facilitating knowledge exchange on complex systems approaches and building capacity for tobacco-related disease prevention in LMICs. Her work aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals related to health, education, and environmental sustainability.