David qualified MBChB with honours from the University of Birmingham in 2004. During his undergraduate studies he received a number of awards including the Vice Chancellor’s Prize, the Sir Arthur Thompson Gold Medal, the Ingelby Scholarship for Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the Sir Arthur Thompson Prize and the Sands-Cox scholarship.
He subsequently has completed a Wellbeing of Women funded research training fellowship investigating the maternal cellular immune response to fetal antigens, for which he has been awarded his PhD.
He is currently undertaking combined clinical training and academic work as a Clinical Lecturer.
Prior to his research fellowship David undertook a year of clinical work as a registrar at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Malawi. Research on global maternal health issues continues to be an important interest.
David’s research interests are in the field of maternal infection and immunity, the problem of recurrent miscarriage and global maternal health.
Maternal Infection and Immunity: The modulation of the maternal immune response to the fetus is key to successful pregnancy and remains an enigma. David’s work investigates the cellular immune response to the fetus during pregnancy and in particular has identified and characterised a functional, maternal T lymphocyte response to fetal antigens during human pregnancy. He is also interested in the interactions of viral infection with maternal immunity and on translating improvements in our understanding of maternal immunology to better care of women with complications of pregnancy.
Recurrent Miscarriage: David is currently investigating the immunological causes of recurrent miscarriage and the immunological effects of potential treatments. He is also studying other placental disorders associated with adverse pregnancy outcome.
Global Health: David is engaged in evidence synthesis of interventions to reduce maternal mortality in low income countries and clinical trials to address the global burden of maternal mortality.
Lissauer D, Piper K, Goodyear O, Kilby MD, Moss PAH. Fetal-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T cell responses develop during normal human pregnancy and exhibit broad functional capacity. Journal of Immunology, (2012), June 8 (e pub ahead of print).
Wilson A, Gallos I, Plana N, Lissauer D, Khan KS, Zamora J, MacArthur C, Coomarasamy A. Effectiveness of strategies incorporating training and support of Traditional Birth Attendants on maternal and perinatal outcomes: a meta-analysis. BMJ (2011),343:d7102
Lissauer D, Chaudhary M, Pachnio A, Moss P, Kilby M. Cytomegalovirus sero-positivity dramatically alters the maternal CD8+ T cell repertoire and leads to the accumulation of highly differentiated memory cells during human pregnancy. Human Reproduction (2011), 26(12):3355-3365.
Wilson A, Lissauer D, Thangaratinam S, Khan K, MacArthur C, Coomarasamy A. A comparison of clinical officers with medical doctors on caesarean section outcomes in the developing world: A meta-analysis of controlled studies. BMJ (2011), 342:d2600.
Lissauer D, Piper KP, Moss PA, Kilby MD. Fetal microchimerism: the cellular and immunological legacy of pregnancy. Expert Rev Mol Med. (2009), 11: 33.
Lissauer D, Piper KP, Moss PAH, Kilby MD. Persistence of fetal cells in the mother: friend or foe? BJOG. (2007), 114 (11):1321-5.
Junying J, Herrmann K, Davies G, Lissauer D, Bell A, Timms J, Reynolds GM, Hubscher SG, Young LS, Niedobitek G, Murray PG. Absence of Epstein-Barr virus DNA in the tumor cells of european hepatocellular carcinoma. Virology (2003), 306(2): 236-43.
*Murray PG, *Lissauer D, Junying J, Davies G, Moore S, Bell A, Timms J, Rowlands D, McConkey C, Reynolds GM, Ghataura S, England D, Caroll R, Young LS. Reactivity with a monoclonal antibody to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen 1 defines a subset of aggressive breast cancers in the absence of the EBV genome. Cancer Research (2003); 63(9): 2338-43. (*Joint first authors)