David Wood
Professor of clinical toxicology and consultant physician
Biography
David Wood is a professor of clinical toxicology and consultant physician at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, King’s Health Partners and King's College London. He is the chair of the Trust’s Drug and Therapeutics Committee and co-chair of the Medicines Safety Committee, and one of the vice chairs of the South East London Integrated Medicines Optimisation Committee (SEL IMOC). He is also a clinical co-ordinator at the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NECPOD), and in January 2026 was appointed by the Minister for Crime and Policing on behalf of the UK government as the Chair of the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Based on his extensive research portfolio in recreational drug and new psychoactive substance use and associated harm, he is an expert advisor on recreational drugs and new psychoactive substances to the:
- European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) (formerly known as the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (ECMDDA))
- World Health Organisation (WHO)
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Education and training
- Certificate of completion of specialist training in general (internal) medicine and clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, 2007
- MD, University of London, 2005
- Member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP), 2000
- Medicine and surgery (MB ChB) honours, University of Bristol, 1997
- Pharmacology BSc 1st-Class Honours, University of Bristol,1994
Research interests
- Epidemiology of and short-term harm related to the misuse of recreational drugs
- New psychoactive substances and prescription medicine and the short-term harms related to their misuse, the European Drug Emergency Network (Euro-DEN)
- Project and collaborative work with the US RADARS system
Awards
- Fellowship of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (FAACT), 2018
- Fellowship of the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologist (FEAPCCT), 2015
- Fellowship of the British Pharmacological Society (FBPhS), 2012
- Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), 2012
- Fellowship of the American College of Medical Toxicology (FACMT), 2012
Last updated: February 2026