{{Short description|British forensic pathologist}} {{EngvarB|date=June 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}} '''Helen Laura Whitwell''' (1 January 1955 – 24 July 2024) was a British neuropathologist and forensic pathologist. She is notable for being the UK's first female professor of forensic pathology.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/08/05/helen-whitwell-pathologist-inspired-silent-witness-obituary/ | title=Professor Helen Whitwell, pathologist whose work inspired the hit series Silent Witness – obituary | work=The Telegraph | date=5 August 2024 }}</ref>
==Life and career== Whitwell was born on New Year's Day 1955 in Kendal, Westmorland, England, to Edward, an accountant, and Beryl, a maths teacher.<ref name="obit Tele" /> She was educated at Kendal High School, a state school and then read medicine at the University of Manchester.<ref name="obit BMJ" />
Whitwell was a lecturer in neuropathology at the University of Manchester from 1979 to 1986, before becoming a consultant neuropathologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. She joined the Home Office as a forensic pathologist in 1988 and was based in the West Midlands where she undertook up to 60 post-mortems a year. She also acted as an expert witness, including helping to overturn the conviction of Sally Clark and other cases of sudden infant death syndrome or shaken baby syndrome. After briefly lecturing at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, she returned to the United Kingdom to become Professor of Forensic Pathology at the University of Sheffield in 2000; the first woman to hold such a chair. She stepped down in 2004 when the university closed her department and returned to practising forensic pathology. She developed arthritis in her hands in her 50s which meant she had to stop undertaking post-mortems and instead focused on her academic work.<ref name="obit Tele">{{cite news |title=Professor Helen Whitwell, pathologist whose work inspired the hit series Silent Witness |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/08/05/helen-whitwell-pathologist-inspired-silent-witness-obituary/ |access-date=23 November 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=5 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240806091125/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/08/05/helen-whitwell-pathologist-inspired-silent-witness-obituary/ |archive-date=6 August 2024}}</ref><ref name="obit BMJ">{{cite journal |last1=Warren |first1=Penny |title=Helen Whitwell: neuropathologist, expert on paediatric brain injuries, and inspiration for Silent Witness |journal=BMJ |date=2 September 2024 |article-number=q1885 |doi=10.1136/bmj.q1885}}</ref><ref name="obit Times">{{cite news |title=Helen Whitwell obituary: Vivacious pathologist who inspired Silent Witness |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/helen-whitwell-obituary-vivacious-pathologist-who-inspired-silent-witness-ngjcrl7tf |access-date=23 November 2024 |work=The Times |date=1 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240802001851/https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/helen-whitwell-obituary-vivacious-pathologist-who-inspired-silent-witness-ngjcrl7tf |archive-date=2 August 2024}}</ref>
Whiwell was the inspiration for Sam Ryan, the original lead character in the BBC's long-running television series ''Silent Witness''. She also acted as an advisor to the programme.<ref name="obit BMJ" />
Whitwell died from cancer, on 24 July 2024, aged 69.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/08/05/helen-whitwell-pathologist-inspired-silent-witness-obituary/ | title=Professor Helen Whitwell, pathologist whose work inspired the hit series Silent Witness – obituary | work=The Telegraph | date=5 August 2024 }}</ref>
==Selected works== *{{cite book |last1=Geddes |first1=J. F. |last2=Whitwell |first2=H. L. |title=Neuropathology |chapter=Head Injury in Routine and Forensic Pathological Practice |series=Current Topics in Pathology |year=2001 |volume=95 |pages=101–124 |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-59554-7_3|pmid=11545051 |isbn=978-3-642-64025-4 }} *{{cite journal |last1=Geddes |first1=Jennian F. |last2=Whitwell |first2=Helen L. |title=Neuropathology of Fatal Infant Head Injury |journal=Journal of Neurotrauma |date=September 2003 |volume=20 |issue=9 |page=905 |doi=10.1089/089771503322385836|pmid=14577868 }} *{{cite book |editor1-last=Whitwell |editor1-first=Helen L. |title=Forensic neuropathology |date=2005 |publisher=Hodder Arnold |location=London; New York |isbn=978-0-340-70004-4 |edition=1st}} *{{cite book |editor1-last=Whitwell |editor1-first=Helen |editor2-last=Milroy |editor2-first=Christopher |editor3-last=du Plessis |editor3-first=Daniel |title=Forensic neuropathology |date=2021 |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton |isbn=978-1-4987-0616-2 |edition=2nd}} *{{cite book |last1=Whitwell |first1=Helen |last2=Thorne |first2=Katy |last3=Kolar |first3=Alexander |last4=Harvey |first4=Paul |title=Mason's Forensic Medicine and the Law |date=2023 |publisher=Bloomsbury Professional |location=London |isbn=978-1-5265-2132-3 |edition=7th}}
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitwell, Helen}} Category:1955 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Neuropathologists Category:English forensic pathologists Category:Academics of the University of Manchester Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland Category:Academics of the University of Sheffield Category:People from Kendal