Skip to main content

Mr David Anthony Rew

Mr Rew is a senior consultant general surgeon who specialises in the surgical treatment of thyroid and parathyroid disorders.

QVRM MChir (Cambridge), FRCS (London)

Training and education

  • School of Medicine, University of Cambridge, (1975 to 1978)
  • King's College Hospital Medical School (1978 to 1982)
  • FRCS (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England) (1985)
  • Cancer Research Campaign Fellowship, University of Southampton (1989 to1991)
  • MChir (Master of Surgery) - University of Cambridge (1991)
  • Hunterian Professorship, RCS England (1992)

Experience

Mr Rew is a senior consultant general surgeon who now specialises in the surgical treatment of thyroid and parathyroid disorders at University Hospital Southampton, within a skilled and experienced multidisciplinary team of surgeons, physicians, diagnosticians and allied health professionals.

Mr Rew is a very broadly trained consultant general and cancer surgeon, who trained in London and Wessex before moving to Leicester in 1994 as a senior lecturer in surgery in Sir Peter Bell’s department at Leicester Royal Infirmary.

He was invited to return to Southampton as a consultant surgeon in 1999, since when he has made a major contribution to the work and form of the Southampton and Salisbury breast service, and to the specialist delivery of thyroid and parathyroid surgery for the regional community.

His work in these fields was recognised with a National Clinical Excellence Award in 2013.

In addition to his specialist interests, Mr Rew has contributed throughout his career to the general surgical services at Southampton General Hospital, at the Royal South Hants Hospital and at Lymington Hospital. He has also played a significant role in digital innovation and the modernisation of the UHS clinical data estate.

In parallel with his NHS career, Mr Rew served with the Defence Medical Services Reserve, seeing operational service in the Gulf in 1991, in Iraq in 2003 and in Afghanistan in 2008. His exemplary service and leadership in military medicine and surgery was recognised with the rare award of the QVRM in HM The Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2015.

Key achievements

Mr Rew has held a series of influential leadership roles in surgery at national and international level:

  • From 2000 to 2002, he was National Secretary of the British Association for Surgical Oncology (BASO), which is the UK’s representative Association for Cancer Surgery.
  • From 2003 to 2009, he was the editor in chief of the European Journal of Surgical Oncology (EJSO).
  • From 2008 to 2010, he was a Board member of the internationally influential Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
  • Since 2009, he has held a globally influential role as the Subject Chair for Medicine on the Advisory Board to the SCOPUS academic citation system.
  • From 2012 to 2016 he was an executive director and director of communications for the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland.
  • From 2017 to 2019, Mr Rew was a member of the Strategic Advisory Panel on Healthcare Technologies for the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
  • Since 2019, he has been a Competition and Grant Awards Assessor for Innovate UK
  • He is a contributing member of the British Association for Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons (BAETS).

Research

Mr Rew has more than 100 cited papers, articles and editorials in the international peer reviewed literature, as cited in PubMed. He continues to write widely on surgical topics and professional matters, and his 1400 page e-book “Blood, Heat and Dust” on operations in Iraq from 2003 to 2009 is freely available on the University of Southampton e-print server.

Mr Rew continues to lead the breast and endocrine charity fund for the Southampton Hospitals Charity  to support specialist services, staff facilities and research across the hospital.