David Malcolm Potts, FRCOG,
FREng
Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK a ...
is an American human reproductive scientist and emeritus Professor of Public Health at the
School of Public Health at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
He was the first holder of the Fred H. Bixby-endowed chair in Population and Family Planning and founding director of the Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability at the
School of Public Health.
Biography
Potts completed a medical degree and a PhD in
embryology
Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos ...
(on the
electron microscopy of
mammalian
implantation) at the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
. While at Cambridge, he co-founded the first clinic offering contraception to young people.
He advised
David Steel
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, (born 31 March 1938) is a British politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leade ...
on the UK's
1967 Abortion Act. He was the first male doctor at the Marie Stopes Clinic in London.
He became the first Medical Director of the
International Planned Parenthood Federation
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global non-governmental organisation with the broad aims of promoting sexual and reproductive health, and advocating the right of individuals to make their own choices in family ...
in 1968. In 1972, he was the first physician to promote the technique of uterine
manual vacuum aspiration. He then moved to the United States and became CEO of
Family Health International (FHI) from 1978 to 1990. During this period, FHI became the largest global AIDS prevention programme outside of the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
.
He has published ten books and over 350 scientific papers and articles. His books include ''Abortion'' (co-written with
Peter Diggory and
John Peel, 1977), ''Textbook of Contraceptive Practice'' (1st edition co-written with John Peel, 1969; 2nd edition co-written with Peter Diggory, 1983; long the key textbook in the field), ''Queen Victoria's Gene'' (written with his brother Prof. William Potts), ''Ever since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality'' (written with Dr Roger Short, 1999) and ''Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World'' (co-written with Thomas Hayden, 2008).
He has worked as a consultant to the World Bank and the British, American, Canadian and Egyptian governments.
He has served as:
*Founding Director, The Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability, 1992–2013.
*Board member, Population Services International, Washington, DC.
*Board Member, Venture Strategies for Health and Development, Berkeley, CA.
*Chair, Division of Community Health and Human Development, School of Public Health.
*Chair, Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects, University of California, Berkeley.
*Head, Global Health Specialty Area, School of Public Health.
*Fellow,
Royal Academy of Engineering,
2003.
Potts has been married four times, including to Dr.
Caroline Deys in 1966,
and has three children. He is currently married to Dr. Martha Campbell.
References
External links
Bixby Center for Population, Health, and SustainabilityUC Berkeley faculty home pagePublicationsfrom
PubMed
PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain t ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potts, Malcolm
Living people
American public health doctors
21st-century British medical doctors
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Year of birth missing (living people)
People associated with Planned Parenthood
UC Berkeley School of Public Health faculty