Sir Terence John Stephenson, (born December 1957) is a Northern Irish consultant paediatric doctor and chair of the

Health Research Authority The Health Research Authority (HRA) is an arm’s length body of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in England. The HRA exists to provide a unified national system for the governance of health research. The current chair of the HRA is ...

(HRA). He is also the Nuffield Professor of Child Health at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL). Stephenson was most notable for guiding the RCPCH in agreeing 10 published national standards, ''Facing the Future: Standards for Paediatric Services''. This was the first time the College committed publicly to a defined set of standards for all children receiving inpatient care or assessment across the UK.

Early life

He was born in

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He was educated at

Larne Grammar School Larne Grammar School is a co-educational voluntary grammar school located in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1886 by Sir Edward Coey and John Crawford, it has around 760 pupils and 50 teaching staff. History The school was ...

. He attended the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

Career

He was formerly Dean of the Medical School and Professor of Child Health at the University of Nottingham from 2003−2009. In 2009 he became the Nuffield Professor of Child Health at

UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health The UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH) is an academic department of the Faculty of Population Health Sciences of University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1946 and together ...

. He was President of the

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, often referred to as the RCPCH, is the professional body for paediatricians (doctors specialising in child health) in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the postgraduate training of paed ...

from April 2009 until May 2012. He then took up the role of chair of the

Academy of Medical Royal Colleges The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) is the coordinating body for the United Kingdom and Ireland's 23 Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties. It ensures that patients are safely and properly cared for by setting standards for the way doct ...

in July 2012. He became a member of the GMC council in 2009. In September 2014 it was announced that he would become the chair of the GMC, succeeding

Peter Rubin Sir Peter Charles Rubin (born 21 November 1948) is a doctor and was the Chair of the General Medical Council (GMC) of the United Kingdom from 2009–2014. A consultant physician and professor of therapeutics at the University of Nottingham sinc ...

on 1 January 2015. In October 2014 it was announced that he had been appointed as a panel member for the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. In September 2019 he was appointed Chair of the Health Research Authority, succeeding Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery. In April 2020 he was appointed as a Vice-President of

The Academy of Experts The Academy of Experts (TAE; formerly the British Academy of Experts) is a UK legal institute for expert witnesses. It was founded in 1987 with the objective of providing a professional body for experts to establish and promote high objective standa ...

. He has co-authored textbooks, written invited chapters and editorials, and published more than 150

peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

ed papers in

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

s. He has been described as leading by example. Throughout 2021 and 2022 Stephenson researched the effects of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

teenagers Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

in a UK-based study named CLoCk (Children & young people with Long Covid).

Awards and honours

By March 2016, ten honorary Fellowships had been bestowed on Stephenson from colleges based in the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong and Australia. In November 2014 he received an honorary fellowship from the

Royal College of General Practitioners The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is the professional body for general (medical) practitioners (GPs/Family Physicians/Primary Care Physicians) in the United Kingdom. The RCGP represents and supports GPs on key issues including l ...

. In May 2015 he was elected a fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine. Stephenson was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to Healthcare and Children’s Health Services.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Terence Living people British paediatricians 21st-century British medical doctors People educated at Larne Grammar School Academics of University College London Knights Bachelor Recipients of the James Spence Medal 1957 births Chairs of the General Medical Council Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Honorary Fellows of the Royal College of General Practitioners Honorary Fellows of the Academy of Medical Educators