David Beard is Professor of Musculoskeletal and Surgical Sciences at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) in the University of Oxford and an NIHR Senior Investigator. He is also the Rosetrees/RCS Director of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) Surgical Intervention Trials Unit (SITU NDORMS-Oxford) and Professorial Fellow of Kellogg College. His academic qualifications include an MSc in Biomedical Science (KCL London), an MA by Resolution (Oxon), a Doctorate in Medicine (Oxon) and an honorary FRCS (Eng). Initially qualified as a physiotherapist he maintains a small NHS clinical role for Swansea Bay UHB.
David has completed and published several clinical trials in surgery, orthopaedics and rehabilitation and is currently Chief Investigator or Co-app in 16 substantial clinical trials in the fields of orthopaedics, plastic surgery, and ENT. Specific research interests include surgical clinical trials methodology, including placebo control designs, outcome measurement, and innovation/robotic surgery. He has over 300 published articles (many trial and surgery related, including 8 in the Lancet). As a trialist he sits on, or chairs, several NIHR/Charitable Steering or Funding committees, both nationally and internationally.
