John A. Walker-Smith

Early career In 1961, Walker-Smith released his first publication, and the following year he spent six months at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Sydney. In 1963 he joined the Brompton Hospital as house officer, and later became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of both London and Edinburgh. He also chaired the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition's working group on acute diarrhoea, which developed and promoted the use of a low osmolality oral rehydration solution for treating acute gastroenteritis. Around this time, in 1975, he wrote the paediatric gastroenterology textbook Diseases of the Small Intestine in Childhood, noted for being one of the first European textbooks covering its subject matter in English. In 1986 he was appointed president of the British Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology.

After retirement, he acquired a Master of Arts in Christianity and the Arts at King's College London in 2010

Memoirs According to his memoirs, Walker-Smith's early life was marked by several incidents that he believes led to his career in medicine. At age 14, he fell through a plate glass window, which resulted in a partial palsy of the ulnar nerve, which is noted as possibly contributing to his interest in endoscopy. In 2010, Walker-Smith was found guilty by the General Medical Council of professional misconduct who recommended erasure subject to appeal. The misconduct finding was reversed on appeal.

In a statement reported in the book on the fraud by Brian Deer, Walker-Smith said:

In his memoir Enduring Memories, published 2003, Walker-Smith defended Wakefield's integrity, and noted that the pediatric gastroenterologists in his department had never claimed that the MMR vaccine caused autism, nor that it was unsafe.

Selected publications Books

(Co-author)

Further publications after retirement Hope, Beauty and Friendship, Austin Macauley 2023 (A collection of 66 poems)

The Holy Land with Echoes of British Mandate, The Memoir Club 2025

Articles (Co-author) (Co-author)

(Co-author) (Co-author)