Year James Spence Medal awarded: 2013
Sir Al Aynsely-Green trained at Guy’s Hospital, London, hospitals in Oxford, and in paediatric endocrinology at the University Children’s Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland. He became University Lecturer and Fellow of Green College, Oxford, and James Spence Professor of Child Health in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, before becoming the Head of the School of Clinical Medical Science in Newcastle.
He was also Nuffield Professor of Child Health and Director of Clinical Research at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, and is currently Professor Emeritus of Child Health at University College London. In 2000, he was appointed the first National Clinical Director for Children in the Department of Health in Government and later, the first independent statutory Children’s Commissioner for England in 2005. He was President of the British Medical Association from 2015-2016.
He has received numerous prestigious awards and spoken at national and international conferences and events, and was knighted in 2006 for services to children and young people.