David is an Australian paediatrician and global child health specialist with extensive experience in Africa and south and east Asia. David commenced his career in international health as a District Health Officer in Malawi before completing formal speciality training in Paediatrics in Melbourne. He worked extensively on immunization in the Mekong Region and managed child health and nutrition programs and emergency responses for UNICEF in Indonesia, China, Myanmar, India and Afghanistan. At UNICEF’s New York Headquarters, David was team lead for health systems strengthening and primary health care. Most recently he led UNICEF’s Health and Nutrition program in Iraq, based in Baghdad, leading the response to COVID-19 and its impact on health services. For over ten years David was an Associate in the University of Melbourne’s School of Population Health, where he completed his PhD based on work undertaken in Vietnam. Twice a Lancet Commissioner, he has published over 65 peer-reviewed papers on a wide variety of child health, nutrition and health systems issues.
David holds a joint appointment between the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute. His objectives in this joint role are to use the two agencies’ respective capacities to demonstrate Singapore’s qualities and potential as a regional leader in global health, strengthening health systems and reducing inequities in health care access and outcomes.