Dr Ricky J Richardson
BSc MBBS MRCP(UK) FRCP FRCPCH DCH DTM&H
The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children & The Portland Hospital for Women and Children
Clinical Director - HealthSystems Consultants Ltd
EXECUTIVE BIO-DATA SUMMARY
Dr Richardson took his first Degree with Honours in Cell Biology and Immunology at the University of London. He then proceeded to study clinical medicine at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1973. Following three years as an intern and then resident in Internal Medicine, he turned to Paediatrics and he has remained in this field ever since.
Most of his paediatric career has been based at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, but a considerable period of time (8 years) has been spent overseas on specific assignments.
During 1979, he worked for Save the Children Fund (a UK based global charity) in Burkina Fasso, West Africa and Nicaragua, Central America. In 1980, he devised and wrote a master plan to establish a comprehensive integrated paediatric service in Brunei, SE Asia and then, at the request of the Government of Brunei, stayed on for five years to implement and further develop the plan. He retains close links with Brunei.
On leaving Brunei in 1985, he spent two years in Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman as Senior Paediatric Consultant and advisor to the Ministry of Health. In 1986, he returned to the United Kingdom to take up an academic position in the University of London firstly as Lecturer and then as Senior Lecturer in International Child Health, and he was appointed Sub-Dean (Clinical) of the Institute of Child Health. During this period, he performed numerous overseas consultancies for international aid agencies, including UNICEF, UNWRA, the Overseas Development Administration (ODA), The British Council and Save the Children Fund.
In addition to his academic role, in 1986, he was appointed Honorary Consultant Physician at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, a position which he still holds. He is Chair of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children’s Telemedicine and eHealth Committee and is Consultant Paediatrician on the faculty of the Department of Psychological Medicine. He is a Consultant Paediatrician at the Portland Hospital for Women and Children and at the Speech, Language and Hearing Centre at Christopher Place, London. He is a general paediatrician with a special clinical interest in children with specific learning and behavioural difficulties.
In 1990, he co-founded WhizzKidz, a children’s charity that has become the largest supplier of mobility aids and specialist services to disabled children outside of the NHS. WhizzKidz currently has an income of £4.4M per annum (2002). Dr Richardson sits on the Board of Trustees and is Chair of WhizzKidz Research and Training Advisory Committee.
In 1992, he founded Richardson Consulting, the business of which was acquired by Richardson Consulting (UK) Limited in June 2000 to provide medical advisory and consultancy services with specific emphasis on Telemedicine and eHealth. Richardson Consulting (UK) Limited subsequently merged with HealthSystems Consultants in October 2002 and Dr Richardson is now Clinical Director and sits on the Board of HealthSystems Consultants Ltd (www.healthsysconsult.co.uk). HealthSystems Consultants Limited is the second largest health IT Consulting Practice in the United Kingdom with additional operations in the USA and across Europe. Dr Richardson also acts as senior eHealth advisor to several large commercial organisations who are establishing global eHealth strategies.
Dr Richardson is an acknowledged authority on the emerging fields of eHealth and Telemedicine. He lectures frequently on the subject and his opinions and views have been sought in various media worldwide. He is Chairman of the UK eHealth Association, Chairman of the Pan European eHealth Working Group of The European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL) – a European Commission funded body - mandated to promote and to implement eHealth and Telemedicine activities across the whole of the European Community and he was elected to the Governing Board of EHTEL in March 2002. He was Co-Founder and sits on the Medical Advisory Board of the International eHealth Association. He was elected Vice-President of the International Society for Telemedicine in September 2003.
Dr Richardson is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine.
In 1983, he had conferred on him, the title of Dato (The Most Honourable Order of the Crown of Brunei) by His Majesty The Sultan of Brunei, for his services to the children of Negara Brunei Darussalam.
October 2003