David Barrett qualified in 1983 from St Bartholomew's Medical College and subsequently undertook his orthopaedic training in London, Reading and Oxford. During his orthopaedic training he developed an active interest in surgery of the knee and subsequent research interests that led to him taking up a Fellowship in Knee Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Boston in 1991. He continued his academic interest on returning to London and was later awarded the prestigious Arris and Gale Lectureship by the Royal College of Surgeons in 1993 in recognition of his research work in knee surgery. Further work was awarded the President's Medal of the British Association for Surgery of the Knee. Subsequently Professor David Barrett was elected to the American, British and Canadian Travelling Fellowship by the British Orthopaedic Association in 1994.

Appointed to Southampton University Hospital in 1994 as an Orthopaedic Surgeon with an exclusive interest in surgery of the knee joint, he developed his interests in the mechanical reconstruction and replacement of the knee. He developed working research relationships with academic and commercial groups in knee joint design, particularly in the United States of America and Australia, travelling widely to lecture on topics of knee joint design, in vivo movement and pre-clinical modelling. Professor Barrett has given key note addresses on these topics to the Orthopaedic Associations of Australia, Japan, America and France. Professor Barrett is an Executive Committee Member of the British Association of Surgery of the Knee and a Scientific Committee Member of the European Association of the Knee.