David Sweetnam

Mr David Sweetnam MBBS, FRCS (Orth), Dip Sports Med

Chair of the IOI Advisory Board, Consultant Orthopaedic & Trauma Surgeon

David Sweetnam comes from a family of surgeons, physicians and nurses, and he worked for over 30 years in the NHS as an Orthopaedic and Trauma surgeon.

Appointed in 1998 as a Consultant at one of London’s major teaching hospitals, including ten years as Head of Department, he has worked closely as a surgeon for the armed forces as well as an examiner for the Royal Colleges and Chairman of the Newman Foundation Charity.

His experience as a surgeon has driven him to recognise the need for urgent action against AMR, not least because all modern surgery is premised on the use of effective antibiotics. His family history of surgical practice over three generations has given him a unique perspective regarding the alarming reduction in the effectiveness of antibiotics since the inception of The NHS in 1948. The menace of resistant infections from ‘superbugs’ increases year on year and will only get worse if left unchecked.

It was through his peripheral role as surgical advisor to the Ineos sports portfolio that he first shared his insights on the urgency of acting on the AMR ‘silent pandemic’ with the Ineos board, which has ultimately led to the founding of the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research.