David is the world’s most renowned war surgeon and has volunteered his skills both operating with and teaching local medical teams in some thirty different conflicts worldwide. He has seen humanity at its worst but also at its finest; witnessing how medical workers strive to care for their patients and support their communities in the most challenging circumstances.... Read more
For the past 35 years David has taken unpaid leave 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 patients in conflict and catastrophe zones in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Chad, Darfur, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Central African Republic, Palestine, Nepal and Ukraine.
David gained his medical degree from Manchester University and in 1992 gained his FRCS from the Royal College of Surgeons of England to become a Consultant Surgeon.
He is a Consultant Surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital where he specialises in vascular and trauma surgery and also performs cancer surgery at the Royal Marsden Hospital. David is an authority in laparoscopic surgery and was the first surgeon to combine laparoscopic and vascular surgery. As well as treating patients affected by 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 2015 David and his wife Elly established the David Nott Foundation to support surgeons in developing their operating skills for war zones and austere environments. The Foundation has now trained over 2,158 doctors through their bespoke Hostile Environment Surgical Training (HEST) course and also trains anaesthetists and obstetricians and gynaecologists. In 2019, Picador published David’s bestselling memoir, War Doctor.