Dr David Hohenschurz-Schmidt (PhD, MSc, MOst)

Biography

David works as a researcher at the UCO School of Osteopathy and at the Pain Group at Imperial College London. In 2023, he earned his PhD from Imperial College London, focusing on improving clinical trial designs for non-pharmacological therapies. He holds distinction-level master’s degrees in Osteopathy (UCO) and Neuroscience (King’s College London). The Alan and Sheila Diamond Charitable Trust generously supported his PhD and current postdoctoral roles.

David led an international effort resulting in the CoPPS Statement, published in The BMJ in 2023, providing guidelines for (sham) control interventions in clinical trials, and worked with the US-based Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT), developing guidance for pragmatic trials. Currently, he’s delving into intervention development and testing for people living with painful diabetic neuropathy, with additional support from the Society for Back Pain Research and The Osteopathic Foundation. For more on this, please visit the website of his NeuOst project.

Collaborating with experts globally, David’s research extends to placebo effects, digital therapeutics, and research integrity. He is executive committee member of the Society for Back Pain Research. He teaches at the UCO School of Osteopathy and internationally, focusing on research skills, clinical reasoning, communication, pain, and autonomic neuroscience. He works clinically in Brixton, South London.

In 2023, David received Imperial College’s Department for Surgery and Cancer Early Researcher Award. In 2022, he was honored with the New Investigator’s Award by the Society for Back Pain Research for his contributions to control interventions in various trials, and he received the 2020 Community of Practice Award by the Institute of Osteopathy for adapting musculoskeletal practice during the pandemic.