Ricky J. Richardson

Ricky J. Richardson was brought up in Spain. He 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 serves as Consultant Paediatrician on the faculty of the Department of Psychological Medicine at GOSH, where he contributes regularly to the Social and Communication Disorder Clinic. He was founding chairman of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children’s Telemedicine and eHealth Committee (2001-2004).

He is a general paediatrician with a special clinical interest in children with specific learning and behavioural difficulties. He is Consultant Paediatrician to The Child and Family Practice at 57A Wimpole Street, London and to Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) in Windsor, Berkshire, where he holds a regular weekly paediatric clinic.

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. Professor Richardson served on the Board of Trustees from 1990 – 2004.

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 Datasystems Consultants Ltd in October 2002 (now renamed HealthSystems Group Limited) and Professor Richardson is now Group Clinical Director and he sits on the Board of HealthSystems Group Limited.

HealthSystems Group Limited has a wholly owned subsidiary company called HealthSystems Consultants Limited, which is a significant health IT Consulting Practice in the United Kingdom. HealthSystems Group has additional operations in the USA, the Middle East, India and across Europe. Professor Richardson also acts as senior eHealth advisor to several large commercial organisations who are establishing global eHealth strategies.

Professor Richardson is an internationally 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 was founding Chairman of the UK eHealth Association from 1999 – 2006 and he is now Life President. He served as Chairman of the Pan European eHealth Working Group of The European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL) from 1999 to 2003. EHTEL is a European Commission funded body - mandated to promote and to implement eHealth and Telemedicine activities across the whole of the European Community. He served on the governing Board of EHTEL from 2001 – 2003 He currently serves as one of the founding Board of Directors of the European eHealth Forum. He was elected Vice-President of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth – ISfTeH – in September 2003.

Richardson was appointed as co-chair of the Commonwealth eHealth Secretariat, which is mandated to develop a common eHealth platform to share medical knowledge and skills across the 53 countries that make up the Commonwealth.

He is Vice Chairman (Europe) of the ASEM eHealth Working Group, which is mandated to agree a common eHealth strategy for the 43 countries that make up ASEM (The Asia Europe Meeting).

He is founder/director of the Africa eHealth Forum established in 2006.

He is appointed to the UK Focus Group of The Royal Academy of Engineering in May 2005

He serves as one of the judges of Medical Futures, a national award scheme to recognise innovation in Healthcare.

He serves on the Board of Trustees of The Golden Web Foundation, which oversees a ground breaking innovative use of IT and web technology as an educational tool to depict world history. The Golden Web is based at Cambridge University.

Professor 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.

He was appointed as Visiting Professor in eHealth to Imperial College, London in February 2004.

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.

We thank Ricky J. Richardson for information submitted.