Dr David Nott OBE

Born in Carmarthen, West Wales, David gained his medical degree from Manchester University and in 1992 gained his FRCS from the Royal College of Surgeons to become a consultant surgeon.

He has been a consultant surgeon at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for 23 years where he specialises in general surgery. Mr Nott also performs vascular and trauma surgery at St Mary’s Hospital and cancer surgery at the Royal Marsden Hospital. David is an authority in laparoscopic surgery and was the 1st surgeon to combine laparoscopic and vascular surgery.

For the past 23 years David has taken unpaid leave each year to work for the aid agencies Médecins Sans Frontières, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Syria Relief. He has provided surgical treatment to the victims of conflict and catastrophe in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Chad, Darfur, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Central African Republic, Gaza and Nepal.

As well as treating victims of conflict and catastrophe and raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for charitable causes, David teaches advanced surgical skills to local medics and surgeons when he is abroad. In London, he teaches the Definitive Surgical Trauma Skills (DSTS) and Surgical Training for the Austere Environment (STAE) courses at the Royal College of Surgeons.

In 2015 David established the “davidnottfoundation” with his wife Elly. Last year, it paid for the training of 3 surgeons brought to the UK from Libya and Syria as David Nott scholars. The foundation also took its satellite training course called the hostile environment surgical training course to the front line and trained 63 Syrian surgeons on the Turkish-Syrian border. David also went to Yemen and delivered the course to 43 Yemeni surgeons. In February 2017, the surgical training for the austere environment course goes ahead in London and the foundation is paying for 10 surgeons to come from conflict areas all over the world to London for training. In this way, thousands of patients will benefit from the training that the “davidnottfoundation” gives to surgeons helping to save lives all over the world.