David Crossman

David Christopher Crossman (born 20 July 1957) is a physician who has been the Dean of the University of St Andrews School of Medicine since 2014 and the Chief Scientist (Health) within the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government since 2017.
Early life and education.
Crossman was born in 1957 to William George and Charmian Jeanette Crossman. He has attributed his interest in cardiology to Christiaan Barnard doing the first heart transplant in 1967 while he was having his tonsils removed. Following this ambition of being a cardiologist, Crossman studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and in 1979 with a first class BSc in Physiology and in 1982 with an MBBS degree.
Career.
From university Crossman trained in clinical pharmacology and worked at Hammersmith Hospital in London from 1985 under Celia Oakley and Attilio Maseri before becoming Professor of Clinical Cardiology at the University of Sheffield in 1994. While in this role, Crossman was director of a National Institute for Health Research research unit. In 2011, Crossman became the Dean of Medicine at the University of East Anglia. In 2014 Crossman then moved to be the Dean and Bute Chair of Medicine at the University of St Andrews School of Medicine and also does a cardiology clinic in Kirkcaldy. 
During his tenure at St. Andrews, Crossman has overseen the proposed return of degree awarding powers to the medical school as part of the Scottish Government's 'Programme for Government'.
Crossman was Chairman of the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Board within the National Institute for Health Research from 2016 to 2019, succeeding Rajesh Thakker in the role.
Chief Scientist for Health.
In November 2017 Crossman was appointed as the Chief Scientist (Health) within the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government, succeeding Professor Andrew Morris who in turn had succeeded Professor Sir John Savill. The role primarily concerns itself with managing the Scottish Govvernment's affairs within medical research in Scotland, something which Crossman has expressed enthusiasm for, describing Scotland as "best clinical research laboratory in the world" in an interview.
In this role, Crossman is one of the fifteen members of the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR).
Covid-19 Pandemic.
During the Covid-19 pandemic Crossman has served as Vice-Chairman of the Scottish Government Covid-19 advisory group and as Chair of the Scottish Government COVID-19 Test Strategy Group.