David qualified from University College of Medicine, Cardiff in 1987, worked in general medicine and anaesthesia in South Wales, moving to London in 1993 as a research fellow in critical care and subsequently Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology in UCLH. He was appointed to a Consultant post in Critical Care at University Hospitals Birmingham in 1996.

In 1998 he was appointed as Specialty Lead for Critical Care; as Group Director responsible for Critical Care, Theatres, CSSD and Anaesthesia in 1999; and as Divisional Director responsible for ten clinical services in 2002.

David was seconded two days per week to the NPfIT in 2004 and appointed as Senior Responsible Owner for e-prescribing in November 2005-April 2007.

In December 2006, David was appointed as Executive Medical Director of UHB, with responsibilities including Executive Lead for Information Technology. He has led the in-house development and implementation of the advanced decision supported electronic patient record into clinical practice across the organisation.

He took up the role of Deputy Chief Executive with responsibility for clinical quality at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT) in November 2015, in addition to the Medical Director role at UHB, and was appointed as Executive Medical Director of HEFT in March 2016. When the two Trusts merged in April 2018, David continued in his role as Executive Medical Director and also became the Deputy Chief Executive for the combined Trust.

David was appointed as Chief Executive of UHB on 1 September 2018.