Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of East Anglia

David Livermore began his career in 1980 as Research Assistant at the then London Hospital Medical College, writing a PhD ‘On the side’. By 1994 he’d risen to Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology. In 1997 he moved to the Public Health Laboratory Service, now Public Health England, swiftly becoming Director of its Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring and Reference Laboratory. He remained until 2011, when he transferred to the University of East Anglia as Professor of Medical Microbiology.

Across 40 years he has belonged – then led – teams that have defined the evolving epidemiology and molecular nature of antimicrobial resistance.  He has authored over 500 papers and regularly appears on Clarivate’s ‘Most Cited’ list, has edited for multiple journals and has served on UK government advisory committees on antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-infection. Now working part-time for UEA he also consults widely for the medical industry on antibiotic development and rapid diagnostics.  Throughout the pandemic of 2020/21 he has been a consistent critic of lockdown policies.

Outside work he has walked the 3000-mile perimeters of England and Wales, also half the East Scottish coast.