Catherine Calderwood

Catherine Calderwood
Calderwood in 2020
Chief Medical Officer for Scotland
In office
27 February 2015 – 5 April 2020
Preceded byAileen Keel (Acting)
Succeeded byGregor Smith
Personal details
Born
Catherine Jane Calderwood

(1968-12-26) 26 December 1968 (age 55)
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Spouse
Angus Loudon
(m. 2019)
Children3
Alma materNewnham College, Cambridge
University of Glasgow
OccupationConsultant obstetrician and gynaecologist

Catherine Jane Calderwood FRCOG FRCPE (born 26 December 1968) is a Scottish consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, who has served as the National Clinical Director for Sustainable Delivery at the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital since 2021.[1] She previously served as the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland from 2015 to 2020, having advised the Scottish Government's initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.[2][3]

Calderwood was born in Belfast, where she spent her early years, before moving to Scotland. After graduating from Newnham College, Cambridge and then the University of Glasgow, she worked in clinical medicine, while training obstetrics and gynaecology. She later moved to London to finish her training at the St Thomas' Hospital. After finishing her training she worked in NHS Lothian. For nine years, Calderwood was a panel member on the Morecambe Bay Investigation, a commission by the UK's Health Department to investigate maternity and neonatal services at Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.

In 2013, she was appointed the Scottish Government's senior medical officer for women's and children's health. From 2014 to 2015, Calderwood was also NHS England's national clinical director for maternity and women's health. Following the retirement of Sir Harry Burns as Chief Medical Officer for Scotland (CMO), she was appointed Acting Deputy CMO for Scotland, a position she held until February 2015. Calderwood was appointed the CMO for Scotland shortly after. As one of Scotland's top medical advisors, she reported and advised the Scottish Government over the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, Calderwood was forced to resign after she was caught breaking her department's own advice on COVID.

She returned to medical practice and in January 2021 was appointed the Executive National Clinical Director of Centre for Sustainable Delivery of Health and Social Care at the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital.

  1. ^ "Catherine Calderwood given senior NHS role at Golden Jubilee". BBC News. 30 January 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  2. ^ Who's who (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2017.
  3. ^ "Coronavirus: Scotland's chief medical officer resigns over lockdown trip". BBC News. 5 April 2020.