Professor Emeritus James Walker, was the Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Leeds until September 2019. His special areas of clinical interest have been hypertension in pregnancy where he pioneered the development of Antenatal Day-units, the use of labetalol and fluid restriction which became the central core of the UK guidelines. He pioneered the management of early pregnancy complications and the development of Early Pregnancy Units and medical gynaecology with the use of LHRH analogues.

In recent times he has been a leader in maternity patient safety and he chaired the national caesarean section audit, was obstetric advisor for the National Patient Safety Agency, chaired the Confidential enquiries into Maternal and Child death, was the National Professional Advisor for CQC and was the inaugural Clinical Director of Maternity Investigations for HSIB. He was Senior Vice-President for the RCOG with a remit for Global Women’s Health. Now no longer carrying out clinical work, he has maintained his academic activity championing maternity safety and the implementation of change.