Terence Stephenson

Sir Terence John Stephenson, (born December 1957) is a Northern Irish consultant paediatric doctor and chair of the Health Research Authority (HRA). He is also the Nuffield Professor of Child Health at University College London (UCL) and chair of NHS Providers.

Early life He was born in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He was educated at Larne Grammar School. He attended the University of Bristol, Imperial College London, University of Oxford and University of Nottingham.

Career Stephenson was dean of the Medical School and Professor of Child Health at the University of Nottingham from 2003 to 2009. In 2009 he became the Nuffield Professor of Child Health at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. He was President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health from April 2009 until May 2012; in 2011 the college published ten national standards, Facing the Future: Standards for Paediatric Services. This was the first time the college committed to a set of standards for all children receiving inpatient care or assessment across the UK.

He then took up the role of chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in July 2012.

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.

He has co-authored textbooks, written invited chapters and editorials, and published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers in academic journals.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, Stephenson researched the effects of COVID-19 on British teenagers in a study named CLoCk (Children & young people with Long Covid).

Since February 2025, he has been the chair of NHS Providers.

Awards and honours By March 2016, ten honorary fellowships had been bestowed on Stephenson from colleges in the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong and Australia. In November 2014 he received an honorary fellowship from the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Stephenson was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to Healthcare and Children's Health Services.