The professor is, in fact, a 61-year-old former academic with a background in children and young people's health. He was the man behind the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services, which was published last year. He is also the national clinical director for children at the Department of Health, and Nuffield professor of child health at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
He starts his new role on a part-time basis immediately, but in a little under three months he will devote himself full time to the 100,000-a-year post of children's commissioner.
Aynsley-Green got the job following a selection process he describes as the "most gruelling" he has ever been through. He had to sit a written exam set by young people, something he says he has not done since his O-levels, and was then interviewed by two panels of school-aged children.
"They were absolutely superb," he says. "They went straight for my throat.
They wanted to know exactly what I was going to say about the issues that concern them."
Aynsley-Green is keen to begin a process of discussion with children, young people and professionals to find out what issues he should be addressing.
He says this was an important part of his work on the National Service Framework, and his experience in doing this will help him in his role as commissioner.
Although he knows a lot about children and young people's health, he concedes that there is much to learn about other problems affecting young people. But he does see health as the cornerstone for all services.
He says the National Service Framework is more than a health document and contains three basic principles that will be central to his work: putting children and young people at the heart of services; dealing with the whole child, not just specific issues; and having a needs-based approach.
Another issue he will have to deal with is concern about the commissioner's powers. Children's charities have argued that the English commissioner will be too weak and lack the clout of the UK's other children's commissioners.
"There has been some controversy about whether the English commissioner will have diluted powers," he says. "But I'm determined to make sure that is not the case."
He refuses to be drawn on how he will do this, but does say he will be joining the European Network of Children's Ombudsman and Commissioners and expects to be treated as an equal.
Aynsley-Green is understandably reluctant to say what he will be doing in the long term, but his short-term plans are to get an office set up - he is considering whether to call it the office for children and young people - and work on a strategic plan that should be ready in the autumn. He plans to set out his priorities in this document. "There are more than 200 issues I've already identified in my little black book," he says. "Now it's a case of deciding which are the key ones."
Reassuringly, he wants the help of youth professionals. "I expect to be judged on what I do, and I would welcome any input about what people think my priorities should be," he says.
Any ideas can be sent to ypn.editorial @haynet.com and will be forwarded to the commissioner.
FYI
- Al Aynsley-Green trained at Guy's Hospital Medical School, University of London, Oriel College at the University of Oxford, and University Children's Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland
- He went on to become a clinical and university lecturer at the University of Oxford, and professor of child health and head of the school of clinical medical sciences at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne
- He holds roles at the Department of Health and at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and was involved in the development of Every Child Matters.
