EDUCATION AND TRAINING
David has always taken a keen interest in training. He was President of the Association of Surgeon I Training in 1996/ 2000. He instigated the Silver Scalpel Award to identify the best surgical trainer in the UK across all surgical disciplines. He has run this prestigious award for the last sixteen years and has embraced many of the skills demonstrated by these outstanding surgeons. He is now a recognised as a good trainer himself with a national reputation. He firmly believes that good training and good service goes hand in hand. This is evidenced in his approach to the whole of his clinical practice.
He was appointed a Regional Surgical Advisor to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) in 2013 and the Specialty Education Lead for the Cardiothoracic Surgery for the college in 2015. He has was appointed the Deputy Director of the Faculty of Surgical trainers of RCSEd in November 2016
He has run the national acclaimed and SCTS (Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland) approved PAR Excellence Course for sixteen years and the PAR Aorta course for two years.
He opened a modern training centre in the Yorkshire Heart Centre in October 2015 – this is one of a kind
He is developing a Black Belt Academy in Surgical Skills to improve surgical proficiency for all aspiring and training surgeons. His innovative ideas have received critical acclaim and published in peer review journal. He is working with the University of Leeds School of Psychology and Mechanical engineering. He and his trainees have been awarded grants to codify manual dexterity and improve basic surgical skills on low fidelity systems.