David Livermore began his career in 1980 as Research Assistant at the then London Hospital Medical College, writing a PhD ‘On the side’. By 1994 he’d risen to Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology. In 1997 he moved to the Public Health Laboratory Service, now the UK Health Security Agency, swiftly becoming Director of its Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring and Reference Laboratory. He remained until 2011, when he joined the University of East Anglia (UEA) as Professor of Medical Microbiology. Now semi-retired, he retains an Honorary Professorship with UEA and consults widely for the medical industry on antibiotic development and rapid diagnostics.

Across 40 years he belonged – then led – teams that defined the evolving epidemiology and nature of antimicrobial resistance. He has authored over 500 papers and appears on Clarivate’s ‘Most Cited’ list, has edited for multiple journals and served on UK government advisory committees on antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-infection. During the COVID-19 pandemic he has been a consistent critic of lockdown policies.

Outside work he has walked the 3000-mile perimeters of England and Wales, also all the East Scottish coast.