Andrew Kelso

Andrew Kelso (he/him) is Chief Medical Officer at The Princess Alexandra Hospital and a Consultant Neurologist. Originally from Dunblane, he studied and trained in medicine at the University of Edinburgh before moving to London in 2004 for postgraduate research in Experimental Epilepsy. Since then, he has held senior clinical and leadership roles at Barts Health NHS Trust and NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB).

His work is focused on tackling health inequalities and supporting staff wellbeing, with a clear aim: to build safe, responsive health services at scale that deliver high-quality care and give both patients and colleagues the confidence and agency to shape better outcomes.

Beyond medicine, Andrew is a keen cellist and bellringer. At home, he is greeted faithfully each evening by his Cairn and Jack Russell terriers.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your career journey so far.

I'm motivated by fairness and driven by my values, including curiosity, perspective, humility, appreciation of beauty and humour. I've followed a fairly traditional medical leadership route, and am drawn to the jobs where there is an improvement job to be done.

What is one lesson or piece of advice you’d like to give aspiring LGBTQ+ leaders?

Remember the barriers that still exist. The world has moved forward, and LGBTQ+ people are well represented in the NHS, but many of us carry internalised biases shaped by years of discrimination. These can quietly influence how we work and live, holding us back from showing up as our authentic selves.

What are you most looking forward to about joining the Health and Care LGBTQ+ Leaders Network?

I've used a lot of energy trying to improve equality, diversity and inclusion. This time it's personal.