David Livermore

Biography

David Livermore gained his BSc in 1978 and his PhD in 1983. He worked at the London Hospital Medical College from 1980 until 1997, when he joined the Health Protection Agency (now Public Health England), becoming Director of its Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring and Reference Laboratory in 1998. In October 2011, he became Professor of Medical Microbiology at UEA, but with 30% of this time supplied back to Public Health England as its Lead on Antibiotic Resistance.

Prof Livermore has broad interests on the evolution and dissemination of antibiotic resistance and its relationship to antibiotic prescribing. Beta-Lactamases are a particular interest, with recent work on the proliferation of ‘CTX-M’ extended-spectrum enzymes and carbapenemases, particularly NDM-1, which received extensive media coverage in 2010.

He sits on the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy working parties on resistance surveillance, multi-resistant pathogens and susceptibility testing and its Antibiotic Action advisory board, also on the Society for General Microbiology working group on sexually transmitted infections. He is also a member of the UK Government’s Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections Advisory Committee and has contributed extensively to the Chief Medical Offer for England’s  Annual Report for 2011. He publishes and speaks widely on resistance and has edited for several journals including Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and Journal of Medical Microbiology and, currently, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.

Outside of work, he is a keen walker, has walked the perimeter of Norfolk and almost half the English Coastline.

 

Career

9/78 to 6/80         QC Microbiology Devt., Wellcome Foundation, Dartford, Kent

 

6/80 to 8/97         Department of Medical Microbiology, London Hospital Medical College

                            6/80-11/83    Research Assistant

                            11/83-2/87    Postdoctoral Fellow (Wellcome Trust)

                            11/85-5/86    Secondment, Lecturer, University of Hong Kong

                            2/87-12/94    Lecturer in Medical Microbiology

                            12/94-8/97    Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology

                              9/97-9/00    Hon Senior Lecturer

 

   9/98-10/11        Public Health England (formerly HPA), Microbiology Services

                              9/97-9/98   Head, Antibiotic Reference Unit, Colindale

                              9/98-date   Director, Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring & Reference  

                                                 Laboratory, Colindale

 

    10/11-date       Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of East Anglia (primary employer, `70% time, with 30% of this subcontracted to Public Health England )

                              Lead on Antibiotic Resistance, Public Health England Microbiology Services, Colindale

                              Visiting Professor, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

                              Honorary Professor of Medical Microbiology, Queen Mary University, London

                              Consultant on Antibiotic Resistance – advisory work for numerous diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies and potential investors

 

Academic Background

1978   BSc, (1st. Class Hons) Microbiology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

1983   PhD, Medical Microbiology, University of London. Thesis: Resistance mechanisms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to ?-lactam antibiotics.

2003   State-Registered Clinical Scientist, Health Professions Council (CS1358).

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