The Chair

Dr Hilary Cass was appointed by NHS England and NHS Improvement to chair the Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for children and young people in late 2020.

A former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health from 2012-2015, Dr Cass recently finished a term as Chair of the British Academy of Childhood Disability (2017-2020).  

Although retired from clinical practice, she remains an honorary Consultant Paediatrician at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Guy’s & St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust, where she was also previously Director of Education and Workforce.  

Dr Cass has recently stepped down from her role as Chair of Together for Short Lives, and remains as a Trustee for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice. She is also leading work on how to address the challenges for both families and professionals in supporting the rising numbers of children with complex medical conditions and disability.  

Other recent roles include acting as the Senior Clinical Advisor for Child Health for Health Education England.  

Prior to this Dr Cass held a range of senior education and management roles in NHS hospital trusts and was previously Head of School of Paediatrics in London. Her consultant clinical practice was as a tertiary neurodisability consultant from 1992 to 2018 in three very different specialist centres and she has published widely in this area.  

In addition to her neurodisability practice, Dr Cass was closely involved in the development of paediatric palliative care services at Evelina London Children’s Hospital.  

Dr Cass was awarded the OBE for services to child health in 2015. She was also awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Nursing in 2015, and by RCGP in 2016.