Researcher profile

David Beard

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, an NIHR Senior Investigator and serves as Rosetrees Director of the Royal College of Surgeons (Eng) Surgical Intervention Trials Unit (SITU NDORMS-Oxford). He is also Professor and Director of Research Partnerships at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, a Flagship Centre in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, where he leads the Surgical & Complex Intervention Trials portfolio. He holds an Investigator Grant Fellowship (Level 3) which supports his surgical trial program, focussing on strategic development of a trial culture for surgical innovation and evaluation in Australia. He holds Masters degrees in Biomedical Science (KCL London, and Oxon), a Doctorate in Medicine (Oxon), and honorary fellowships from the Royal College of Surgeons FRCS (Eng), and the British Orthopaedic Association (FBOA). Clinically, he practised as an extended scope practitioner (consultant physiotherapist) for 27 years, until 2023. David is a globally recognised expert in the evaluation of surgery and complex medical interventions. He has been instrumental at the highest level of leadership in the aim of energising and upscaling surgical evaluation and trials for over 20 years (both in UK, especially through the RCS Eng) and now for the past 3 years in Australia (CTC, USyd, and Royal Australasian College of Surgeons). His major research interests and expertise are in trial design and planning, delivery and with special interest in outcome measurement, expertise trial design, placebo surgical control, service implementation and efficacy evaluation (robotic surgery).