David Metcalfe

I am the Kadoorie Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Oxford, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the John Radcliffe Hospital, and Fellow in Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine at Thames Valley Air Ambulance. I started my career in trauma and orthopaedic surgery before a Fulbright Scholarship at Harvard Medical School, an Oxford-UCB Prize Fellowship at Balliol, and subsequently training as an emergency physician.

Teaching

At St John's, I provide clinical teaching for medical students with an emphasis on bedside teaching and clinical reasoning. The Emergency Department is a particularly fertile ground for clinical teaching as patients attend with a problem or symptom rather than a known diagnosis. This allows students to experience the adventure of being the first to assess a patient and having a genuine opportunity to crack the diagnosis for themselves.

I have taught at Oxford since 2016 and, before arriving at St John's, taught clinical medicine at Oriel and Magdalen. I also currently teach clinical medicine at the University of Pavia in Italy, where I am Visiting Professor.

My research aims to improve the safety and effectiveness of emergency care. I am particularly interested in the early diagnosis of time-critical conditions, clinical decision-making, and the evaluation of treatments used in emergency settings.

I lead the emergency medicine research programme at the Kadoorie Institute for Trauma, Emergency and Critical Care where we are developing a portfolio of multi-centre observational studies and clinical trials.

Select publications

• Hughes T, Metcalfe D. (2026). Adult Emergency Medicine at a Glance, 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1119839361.
• Metcalfe D, Dev H. (2022). Oxford Assess and Progress: Situational Judgement Test. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192843401.
• Metcalfe D, Dev H, Moazami M. (2021). So You Want To Be a Doctor? Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192659262.
• Sugand K, Berry M, Yusuf I, Janjua A, Bird C, Metcalfe D, Dev H, Thrumurthy SG. (2019). Oxford Handbook for Medical School. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199681907.

Awards and distinctions

• Hunterian Professorship — Royal College of Surgeons of England
• Robert Jones Gold Medal — British Orthopaedic Association
• Syme Medal — Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
• Fulbright Scholarship — US-UK Fulbright Commission
• AOUK Trauma Research Prize
• Orthopaedic Trauma Society Prize
• Oxford-UCB Prize Fellowship
• Royal Society of Medicine Emergency Medicine Prize
• British Journal of Surgery Prize