Lieutenant-General (Retd) Louis Lillywhite

Senior Consulting Fellow, Global Health Programme

Louis Lillywhite

Biography

Louis Lillywhite retired as surgeon-general of the UK armed forces in 2010.  Although ‘retired, he was in 2017 appointed master-general of the Army Medical Service, an advisory and mentoring position.

His focus at Chatham House is the relationship between conflict and health and is involved in the FCDO-funded Researching the Impact of Attacks on Healthcare project and a World Health Organization (WHO) project on civilian-military cooperation.


He was responsible for developing a global health security track for the Munich Security Conference and was a member of the post-2014 Ebola epidemic WHO International Health Regulations Review Committee. 

In the COVID-19 pandemic he is acting as a consultant to an FCDO-funded programme in eliminating neglected tropical diseases in East Africa and Asia in the context of COVID-19. 

He is also a medical member of the Tribunal Appeal Service and a trustee or patron of a variety of health or military-related charitable organizations.

His areas of expertise include being a consultant occupational physician with licence to practice, the international military sector, healthcare and non-state armed groups, civilian-military relations, infectious disease in conflict-affected areas, travel and infectious disease outbreaks, the role of the military in public health, and the application of international humanitarian law to health services.

View a list of publications

Past experience

2019 - present Adviser, Oriole Global Health
2016 - present Master-General, Army Medical Services (as a Retired Officer)
2011 - present Medical Member, Tribunal Appeal Service (health-related social security appeals)
2015-16 Member, WHO IHR Review Committee Post-Ebola
2010-16 Chief Medical Officer, St John Ambulance
2006-10 Surgeon-General, UK Armed Forces
1968-2006 Various appointments in field army, army and NATO headquarters, UK Ministry of Defence, and on operations