Air Marshal Clare S Walton CB KHP
Areas of Interest
Armed Forces and Emergency Services, Health CareHonorary Award
Honorary Doctor of Health SciencesCitation
Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to read the citation for Air Marshal Clare Walton, CB, KHP, for the award of Honorary Doctor of Health Sciences.
Air Marshal Walton is Director General Defence Medical Services, the most senior medical rank in the UK’s Armed Forces.
As a pupil at Westcliff High School in Southend, teenaged Clare set her sights on a career in medicine. She won a place at Barts and a cadetship with the Royal Air Force. And after graduating from Medical School in 1989, a succession of postings soon followed.
First to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Then back to the UK to complete her Diploma in Aviation Medicine, winning the prestigious Stewart Memorial Prize in the process. Then to Kuwait, as Senior Medical Officer with Operation Desert Fox.
Promotions came in quick succession too. And when military operations in Iraq expanded in 2002, it was as Wing Commander that Clare again deployed to the Middle East – taking overall responsibility for aeromedical evacuation during one of the largest deployments of British forces since World War Two.
Between overseas deployments, Clare found little time for R&R. Always seeking to test herself, she signed up to the RAF’s challenging Advanced Command and Staff Course, and gained her Master’s degree in Defence Studies.
In 2006 Clare returned to clinical practice as Senior Medical Officer, RAF Leeming. Then in 2008, she was posted to Headquarters Air Command as Senior Officer for Primary Health Care, with responsibility for the delivery of primary care across the entire RAF.
In 2009, Clare was promoted Group Captain and posted to the Ministry of Defence as Assistant Head of Health Protection.
In 2011, she was appointed Commanding Officer of the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre.
Then in 2014 she was assigned as Deputy Head of the RAF Medical Services.
On promotion to Air Commodore in 2016, Clare took over as Commandant of the RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine. And that same year, AC Walton was appointed Queen’s Honorary Physician.
In 2020, Clare was promoted Air Vice-Marshal. In the 2022 New Year Honours List, she was appointed Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. And in 2023, Clare Walton was promoted Air Marshal, becoming the first ever female Director General of the Defence Medical Services.
Air Marshal Walton has enjoyed a stellar career, defined by her commitment to the very highest standard of care to all our country’s service men and women. She has been a relentless driver of innovation. And happily, she shares many values with our university, particularly our desire to transfer innovation into application.
Our local community encompasses many service personnel, veterans and their families. And ARU is currently developing a model to provide them with improved access to higher education. So we hope that Air Marshal Walton will help our university adopt best practice to ensure optimum outcomes.
The timing of this award coincides with ARU’s first cohort of Medical School graduates, within which we are delighted to have a number of military cadets. Clare will be a powerful role model both for these new graduates and to our Medical School undergraduates – indeed to all our students. We are delighted to welcome Air Marshal Clare Walton to our Anglia Ruskin community.
Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to present Clare Walton for the award of Doctor of Health Sciences, honoris causa.