Professor Andrew N. Williams, BA (Oxon), BM BCh, MA (Leics), MSc (Warw), PhD (Birm), MRCP, FRCPCH, FRHistS

Professor Andrew N. Williams, consultant community paediatrician (retired 2022), medical/ancient historian, Archive curator, playwright and film maker. He was trained in paediatrics/paediatric neurodisability in Birmingham under Dr Geoff Debelle, Professor William Whitehouse and the late Dr S. H. Green.

In 2000 he won the ILEA Gowers' Young Physicians Prize for his research which placed the practice of paediatric neurology and neurodisability within the seminal publications of the Oxford physician, neuroanatomist and Sedleian Professor, Thomas Willis (1621-75). This had previously been considerd to have started from the late nineteenth century. In 2004 he established the world’s first paediatric Virtual Academic Unit (VAU) taking Willis’ idea of an ‘Invisible college’ and placing it within a 21st century context. The unfunded, innovative VAU leads in, as well as contributes to, clinical and humanities research in child health (particularly child neurology/ neurodisability) for both the UK and internationally. It  is a concept that is explicitly supported in the Paediatrics 2040 Forecasting the future published by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (2021).

https://paediatrics2040.rcpch.ac.uk/our-evidence/impact-of-innovation/conclusions/#:~:text=Development%20of%20a%20national%20database,of%20new%20technology.%5B4%5D

In 2013 he was at that time the only UK expert reviewer and contributor to the UNICEF sponsored International Charter for 'Ethical Research involving Children (ERIC)'. https://childethics.com/ethical-standards/ This contribution directly grew from his 2007 PhD chapter on 'Lockean Principles and Practice of Childhealth care.' This UNICEF document is highly significant, acting as a global foundational tool that sets ethical standards for research with children, promoting childrens' rights, their safety, offering guidance to improve research practices and ensuring childrens' well being is a priority in all research contexts.

He won the 2015 WellChild Doctor Award which was presented by HRH Prince Harry.

https://youtu.be/7hA5kmP7Ikw?si=cBr1FRJoXwDQk7-T

Working with Together for Short Lives, his film 'The Boudiccae' adapted from the play was shown in the UK Parliament in 2018. This led to written pledges being included in the NHS Long Term Plan (2019). 

From 2021, he has been working with Professor Madeleine Mant, of the University of Toronto, examining English voluntary hospital child health care working on the admission register of Northampton Infirmary 1744-1804 which contains the names of more than 4000 Northamptonshire children 13 years of age and under treated as in or outpatients. This work completely rewrites the hitherto understood history of UK hospital child healthcare, which had believed that it had occurred from the mid nineteenth century onwards with the opening of the first specialist childrens' hospitals.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwY2xjawM1zP1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHhV5tJYWbyZThc0y-KgXASlTThcuVxmpGCTBkMdH2Q3OPJKFO_zCymVAcCqx_aem_74em1oh9v1B5PGChJeYKVQ&v=_VsmmCN740Q&feature=youtu.be

The NIECCAD (Northampton Infirmary Eighteenth Century Child Admission Database) is freely accessible on the Findmypast website.

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/discover/institutions-and-organisations/hospitals-and-institutions/northamptonshirenorthampton-infirmary-child-patients-1744-1801

We are activley seeking living descendants from these pioneering eighteenth century paediatric patients and please feel free to contact me if you believe this may indeed be the case. NIECCAD is freely downloadable.

https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/HBEKLP

In parallel with this project since 2025 he has been working with Mr Lewis Saunderson and Mr Paddy Costelloe of the University of Northampton Computer Games Design Department. Two undergraduate students  Ms Elizia Pereira and Mr Ali Bonham, using the extant premises on George Row made a virtual recreation of part of the Northampton Infirmary in 1778 at the time of Sarah Harris' inpatient admission there. A 2 minute film was made which had its premiere at the 2026 Northamptonshire Heritage Fair. The film has been donated to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

From 2022-2025 he took an MA at University of Leicester (The Classical Mediterranean MA), with a Distinction. He will be taking up a place in October 2026 to read for an MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology at Oxford University.

He is presently on a laboratory placement with Professor K. Anthony. 

He is a member of the Global Research on Developmental Disabilities Collaboration, whch has had a substantial and growing impact upon international child health. This co-authored 2023 Nature Medicine paper calls for a 'twin-track' approach to address the neglect of children with disabilities within global sustainable development goals and WHO policies. It urges leadership to prioritize inclusive early child development for this underserved population, advocating for integrated specialised, disability-focused interventions with universal health coverage.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02291-x

Andrew has been the curator of the Archive at Northampton General Hospital since 2004. The Archive is a wonderful and considerable material repository of the history of medicine, nursing and surgery in Northamptonshire. Its library contains books from the sixteenth century onwards.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4kpxpp9qxo.amp?fbclid=IwY2xjawMuLUBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHgn-UpOdrDwhlSfifXykJsmdyhKWdPFWEDbOOAlfxD1Da73ETxuoW6E-kRp8_aem_9PZ4uq0Ix9utPFYM9dct2A

He welcomes visitors coming to the Archive, which is open on most Wednesday mornings.  

From 2026 he has been working with Dr Friedemann Shauber, Senior Lecturer in the  Division of Design on 3d printing of scanned  archaeological material held at the Archaeolgical Research Centre, Chester House for public educational and research purposes. He also a volunteer at the Archaeological Research Centre, Chester House and strongly recommends this to others.

https://chesterhouseestate.org/the-arc/

Andrew is a patron of Thomas's Fund, a Northants based music therapy charity and strongly encourages its continued support.

https://www.thomassfund.org/

He is supporting the Northampton to Market Harborough (N2MH) and Bedford to Northampton railway reopening campaigns (B2N).

https://brtarail.com/our-campaigns/

He is a member of the Will Hay Appreciation Society and a supporter of Time Team.

Of his many papers, the one that he is most proud of is an extremely promising  2005 pilot study of the ThOMAs test (The Other Means of Assessment) which he conceived. This is a developmental screening tool used to identify children with special needs, in a community healthcare setting, by having them draw Thomas the Tank EngineTM. This paper also includes a licensed childrens' story of how the steam engines themselves undertook the study.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08830738050200020401

Working with the Universities of Northampton and Leicester, he is very interested in developing projects in ancient history and archaeology particularly related to the practical delivery of healthcare. He is very happy to discuss any future potential collaborations in these areas.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

Paediatric Neurology/ Neurodisability/ Neurodevelopment

History of Paediatrics and Child Health

Ancient History/ Ancient Medicine

Archaeology

Medical Humanities