David Watters is Distinguished (Alfred Deakin) Professor of Surgery at Deakin University and Barwon Health in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. He is also Senior Clinical Advisor at Safer Care Victoria (SCV) and has just finished a four-year role as Director of Surgery at SCV which included eading the Perioperative Learning Health Network supporting the Victorian Surgical Recovery and Reform Program post pandemic. He is committed to improving perioperative care before, during and after surgery and is keen to support all disciplines involved in reform across the patient journey. He has published over 300 papers, a number of book chapters and guidelines, and co-authored 8 books including three on Surgical History.

At the University Hospital Geelong, he has specialised in general, colorectal and endocrine surgery. He is a Past President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (2015- 2016), having spent nine years on their Council from 2007. In 2022, he completed a three-year term as Chair of the inaugural Victorian Perioperative Consultative Council (2019 -2022). He was a member of the ACSQHC Topic Working Group for the Clinical Care Standard on Emergency Laparotomy. He is a current member of the Commonwealth Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC).

Internationally, he is actively engaged in global health, advocating for universal access to safe, affordable and timely surgery, having worked previously for almost 20 years in South Africa, Zambia, Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea. He is a co-author of the Lancet Commission for Global Surgery, Senior Editor for the ANZ Journal of Surgery, and a member of the Editorial Board of the World Journal of Surgery.