About Me
Holding posts relating to the health and wellbeing of children within medicine, education and politics has given Sir Al a unique insights into childhood and children’s services at home and internationally.
Skill set and expertise
In a long and successful professional life Sir Al has gained a wealth of experience, which he’s channelled into improving the lives of children and young people.
Professor Sir Albert Aynsley-Green trained in medicine at Guy’s
Hospital in London and in paediatric endocrinology at the University Children’s Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland. He gained a D.Phil on the mechanism of insulin secretion at the University of Oxford.
He was Clinical Lecturer first in adult medicine and then in
Paediatrics at the University of Oxford; he was elected Fellow of
Green College and promoted University Lecturer in Paediatrics; he was then James Spence Professor of Child Health and Head of Clinical Sciences at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne; followed by Nuffield Professor of Child Health at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, and first Board level Executive Director of Clinical R&D at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London.
He was the first National Clinical Director for Children in Government in the Department of Health in London, then first Children’s Commissioner for England; he was elected President of the British Medical Association. He was also Chair of the Salisbury Diocesan Board of Education and member of the Archbishop’s Education Board.
He is now Professor Emeritus of Child Health, University College London and Visiting Professor in Advocacy for Children and Childhood in Nottingham Trent University and has been appointed Visiting Professor in Compassionate Care, Northampton University.
He has over 300 publications on metabolic and endocrine diseases and political policy for children and is author of the award winning and best-selling book ‘The British Betrayal of Childhood’.
He has many national and international indicators of esteem including the James Spence Medal of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Heath, the Andrea Prader Prize and Medal of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology, the International Juvenile Justice Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award by Congenital Hyperinsulinism International.
He was knighted by HM Queen Elizabeth in 2006 for his services to children and young people.
Sir Al is available for public speaking and article writing around children’s welfare and health.
My skills set include:
Critical analysis
- Research and political strategy
- Institutional research performance
- Innovation, system change and transformation
- Policy making
Science of effective advocacy
- Participation of children and young people
- Networking and use of media
- Understanding childhood and child health
- Raising aspirations of children and young people
- Charitable fund raising
- Lobbying and campaigning
- Inspiring organisations to lead local transformation
Leadership development
- Mentoring
- Understanding the skills of leadership
- Professional development
- Motivation and inspiration
Childhood
- History of childhood
- International perspectives
- Politics of childhood
Al Aynsley-Green has got it right. There is a crisis at the heart of our society.
Libby Brooks, columnist, the Guardian newspaper
Current roles
- Visiting Professor in Compassionate Care at Northampton University
- Visiting Professor of Advocacy for Children and Childhood at Nottingham Trent University
- Professor Emeritus of Child Health at University College London
- Founder and Director, Aynsley-Green Consulting
- Patron, Coram Life Education
- Patron, Mosaic Bereavement Care
- Patron of Contact (formerly Contact–a–Family)
- Patron of Action for Sick Children
- Patron of the Association for Young People’s Health
- Patron of the Childhood Bereavement Network
- Vice President of the Children’s Foundation, Newcastle upon Tyne
- Lay Canon Emeritus of Salisbury Cathedral
ACHIEVEMENTS and awards
- Knighted by HM Queen Elizabeth in 2006 for services to children and young people.
- Numerous academic and professional qualifications: MA (Oxon); DPhil (Oxon); MB,BS (London); MRCS(Eng); FRCP(London); FRCP(Edin); FRCPCH; FMedSci; FRSA.
- Eight honorary doctorates – MD, DCL, DEd, Dhc, DUniv (twice) from the Universities of Pécs (Hungary) and Northumbria, Liverpool, York, Nottingham Trent, Huddersfield and Northampton in England.
- Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, UNICEF (UK) and Oriel College, University of Oxford; Honorary member of the Faculty of Public Health and of the Paediatric Societies of Finland, Sweden, South Africa and Hungary; numerous visiting professorships and named lectureships internationally, including the Killam Lecturer in Canada.
Past roles
- President, British Medical Association
- Chair, Salisbury Diocesan Board of Education (that has responsibility for 196 schools and 42,000 children)
- Children’s Commissioner for England
- National Clinical Director for Children in the Department of Health in government
- Chair of the NHS Taskforce for Children
- Nuffield Professor of Child Health and Board level Executive Director for Clinical R & D, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Institute of Child Health in London
- James Spence Professor of Child Health, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and then Head of School of Clinical Sciences
- University Lecturer in Paediatrics and Fellow of Green College, University of Oxford
- Board member and correspondent of several national and international grant-giving bodies and advisory councils, including the Research Advisory Board of the Institute for Children and Families, Vancouver Children’s Hospital, Canada, the NeuroDevNet organisation, Canada, the Archbishop’s Education Board of the National Society, and Child to Child, London, and Diagrama International.
- Honorary Member of Council, NSPCC
- External advisor and examiner in Universities internationally, particularly in Asia and the Middle East
- Foundation Governor of a Church of England junior school
- Governor of an independent secondary school for girls
- Medical Advisor for a special school for children with profound disabilities
You’ve provided a clear voice for children and young people in England. You’ve listened to children in difficult circumstances and improved outcomes by sharing their views and articulating their hopes for the future
Martin Narey, Chief Executive, Barnardo’s
