David Baker studied medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and served for 20 years as a medical officer in the Royal Navy where he specialised in anaesthesia and toxic neurophysiology, in which area he was awarded a doctorate in medicine for work on the management of organophosphate poisoning. Later he worked as a consultant in anaesthesia for the Paris emergency service (SAMU) at the Necker University Hospital where he developed a special interest in emergency ventilation, particularly following toxic exposure. From 2004 he also worked as a consultant medical toxicologist for the United Kingdom Health protection agency and has lectured as a visiting professor at Harvard University and visiting senior lecturer at King’s College, University of London.
He has served as a Board Member for the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine and has worked as a consultant for the World Health Organisation and the International Committee of the Red Cross. David Baker has lectured in over 40 countries around the world and has been author and editor of a number of textbooks and journal articles.
His book ‘Toxic Trauma: a basic clinical guide’ was published by Springer Verlag in 2014 with a second edition in 2016 and was highly commended by the British Medical Association annual book awards. The first edition of Artificial Ventilation: a basic clinical guide which was published in 2016 has received praise from all parts of the world.