Charles Richard Whitfield FRCOG, FRCP(G) (21 October 1927 – 13 September 2018) was a Northern Irish obstetrician and gynaecologist who was a pioneer of maternal-fetal (perinatal) medicine.

His primary interest was in fetal medicine, a branch of obstetrics and gynaecology that focuses on the assessment of the development, growth and health of the baby in the womb.

In 1964 he was granted an honorary attachment to the department of Ian Donald, the medical ultrasound pioneer from Glasgow, whom he would later succeed.

[8] Assessing the severity of cases through the analysis of amniotic fluid, he developed his Action Line method 1968[11][12]: 97  to determine the timing of necessary intervention either by premature induced delivery or by fetal transfusion.

Developments in ultrasound complemented Whitfield's own research interests in fetal medicine but was still regarded with scepticism in some quarters.

As he recalled, "an honorary attachment with Professor Donald in Glasgow in 1964 had convinced me that obstetric ultrasound did have a future, but later in that year in America I was told it was just a dream of a mad, red-headed Scotsman, so I should forget it!

[6]: 62 By the end of the 1980s, 87% of pregnant women in Scotland would undergo at least one ultrasound scan during the course of their pregnancy,[14]: 2  a task increasingly undertaken by midwives (as opposed to doctors or radiologists), an innovation first introduced at QMH.

[16] The working party recommended a less formal approach to subspecialisation whereby generalists could develop an interest in a subspecialty field without undertaking full training.