David McCoy
David McCoy graduated as a medical doctor from Southampton University in 1989. He worked as junior doctor for two and a half years before leaving to spend two and half years in an isolated, rural hospital in northern Kwazulu. He then worked on child health policy research for the Child Health Policy Institute at the University of Cape Town for 18 months.
He then spent six years working for the Health Systems Trust, a non-government organisation based in South Africa that was established to develop a research and evidence base to inform the transformation of the apartheid health care system. Much of his work was in the field of health care financing, promoting equitable resource allocation and addressing the systemic constraints to the implementation of programmatic policy. His last post with the Health Systems Trust was as the Director for Research, much of which was spent evaluating the country's HIV interventions.
David has been active in the international public health field, and has served as a consultant to WHO and other health agencies. He has spoken publicly on a variety of topics including on the research and development of medicines, the roll-out of antiretroviral treatment in Africa and on global health governance. Two years ago, he conceptualised and initiated the production of an alternative world health report under the auspices of the Peoples Health Movement and a local charity based in the UK, Medact.
He completed a doctorate in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2004 in which he applied some aspects of organisational theory to the delivery of primary health care in South Africa.
He is now a public health specialist registrar in the National Health Service in London, and recently spent fourteen months helping to develop a mental health care strategy for the borough of Haringey. He continues to provide technical advice and support to a variety of international and African NGOs.
