Professor David Kessler

Before he went to medical school, David did an English Literature degree and then worked for two years with homeless alcoholics. After training in psychiatry, he decided to be a GP and has been a partner in general practice in South Bristol since 1991. He has always been interested in mental health and started doing research in 1999 because he wanted to understand better the apparent low rates of identification of depression in primary care. David won an RCGP fellowship for this work and came to work at the University of Bristol. 

David's main research interests are the common mental disorders of depression and anxiety, and he has particular interests in treatment resistant depression and the delivery of psychological therapy using information technology. David has been involved in and led a number of treatment trials, mainly funded by NIHR, evaluating both psychological and pharmacological interventions for depression. He was a member of the NICE guideline development group for depression in adults with a chronic physical health problem, and continues to contribute to NICE reviews.