Simon J Newell

Simon J Newell (“Simon,” as he was universally known by colleagues and patients) was born in Leytonstone, London, in 1956, one of four brothers. He attended the Edmund Campion School in Hornchurch. The only member of his family to pursue a medical career, Simon entered medical school at the University of Leeds in 1975 and graduated in 1980 with the McGill prize for surgery and honours in paediatrics, medicine, and psychiatry. Simon’s house jobs and early paediatric training took place in Yorkshire and included a spell as senior house officer to Professor Sir Roy Meadow and to Dr Peter Dear, the first neonatologist at St James’s Hospital, Leeds, in 1982. Both of these consultants were to become his mentors. Simon would later join Peter as the second neonatologist, sharing a 1 in 2 rota. Rumour has it that on appointment Simon was told: “It is 11 years on, 11 years off, and you start tonight.” Simon gained membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics in 1983, the start of a relationship with the college that would last his entire career. He also became a member of the college of Physicians and Surgeons in Manitoba, Canada, where he worked briefly. He moved with his wife, Debra, also a Leeds graduate, to Birmingham, where he started his registrar training in paediatrics, especially in neonatology and gastroenterology. He spent five years as a clinical lecturer in paediatrics, working with Geoff Durbin, Professor Alexander McNeish, and Ian Booth. He published papers on gastro-oesophageal reflux in preterm babies and explored the role of antacids and prokinetics on the neonatal gut. He was awarded the Donald Patterson prize for …