Anna L David

Anna Louise Marie David is a British obstetrician who is Professor of Obstetrics and Maternal Fetal Medicine and Director of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women's Health at University College London. She is a leader in prenatal therapy and led the team that performed the first fetal surgery for spina bifida in the UK. She launched Maternal and Fetal Adverse Event Terminology, a comprehensive system to improve safety in clinical trials in pregnant women. She was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2025.

Early life and education David studied preclinical medicine at the University of St Andrews, with an intercalated year in medical science in 1989, where she was awarded a first class degree. After studying clinical medicine at the School of Medical Sciences, University of Manchester, she was awarded MB ChB in 1992. After graduating, she worked in North West Thames Deanery, where she specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology. David joined University College London in 2000. She developed prenatal gene therapy treatments for congenital respiratory, gastrointestinal and haematological diseases. She showed that ultrasound guided therapy was effective at delivering gene therapy vectors. She trained alongside Charles Rodeck in maternal fetal medicine at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Research and career David develops prenatal treatments for life-threatening disorders using gene therapy and stemcells. She developed the fetal gene therapy research programme at University College London in 2007. She pioneered the first clinical trial of stem cell transplantation for osteogenesis imperfecta. In 2018 she led the successful NHS England Specialist Commissioned service application to treat fetuses with congenital open spina bifida at UCL Hospital/Great Ormond Street Hospital with UZ Leuven, Belgium, which was recommissioned 2023–2028. She is deputy director of the Tommy's National Centre for Preterm Birth Research and leads the centre at UCL.

In 2013, David established the EVERREST consortium of five international academic health science centres and an industrial partner translating a novel therapy for early-onset FGR to clinic. Using maternal uterine artery Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) gene therapy, the concept is the first to demonstrate a method to safely increase fetal growth. The consortium validated a predictive model for clinician and patient-selected outcomes and achieved the first orphan designation for placental insufficiency with FGR, meeting the European Medicines Agency criteria for a rare disease, demonstrating the importance of this life-threatening disease.

Maternal and Fetal Adverse Event Terminology, a system developed by David, enhances safety monitoring for clinical trials in pregnancy. She has appeared on BBC Radio 4, explaining that pregnant women want to and can participate in clinical trials, "There is this perception that women, pregnant women and breastfeeding women do not want to participate in clinical trials… This is not the case". Her work with the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership suggested the number one research question was to develop better tools to predict preterm birth, while patients wanted lifestyle changes that would reduce the risk of preterm birth. She worked closely with the charity Tommy's, as both a trustee and researcher, to improve medical outcomes and the experiences of pregnant mothers.

David enjoys mentoring clinicians and academics in women's health. She was nominated and featured as a role model in the British Medical Association's Women in Academic Medicine.

As a clinician, David works in the University College London Hospitals Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Obstetric Wing.

In 2025, David was appointed The Professor Tan Seang Lin, Dr Grace Tan and OriginElle Fertility Distinguished Chair in Women's Health.

Selected publications

Personal life David is a fan of Joni Mitchell, and has said that her favourite album is Blue.