Dr Edward Despott is a consultant gastroenterologist and advanced gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopist. He is the Clinical Head at the Royal Free Unit for Endoscopy, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and Hon. Associate Professor at University College London (UCL) Institute for Liver & Digestive Health in London. He is a pioneering world-renowned expert in small-bowel endoscopy and minimally invasive endoscopic resection. Edward is also the first Maltese specialist to be awarded a post-graduate research doctorate in advanced endoscopy (Imperial College London) and is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (FASGE). He is the co-founder and director of the International Advanced Endoscopy Masterclass (AEM), a high-quality educational meeting held annually in central London with >350 participants from >40 countries.

His specialist interests and clinical expertise include device-assisted capsule endoscopy (CE), enteroscopy, endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), therapeutic colonoscopy, endoscopically mucosal resection (EMR) and transnasal upper GI endoscopy. He has comprehensive experience in management of inflammatory bowel disease. It is due to his efforts that the Royal Free Unit for Endoscopy is one of the only two centres in London to offer end-to-end small bowel endoscopy service.

Dr Despott qualified in medicine from the University of Malta in 1999. He then moved to the UK to pursue higher specialist training in GI endoscopy and gastroenterology. He has undertaken specialist, sub-specialist and advanced GI endoscopy training in the North East Thames rotation of the London Deanery School of Medicine. He has also been trained at the Wolfson Unit for Endoscopy, St Mark’s Hospital and Academic Institute, London as well as in Japan.

Dr Despott has received multiple national and global scholarships and bursaries relating to advanced GI endoscopy. He has also been awarded MD (Res) by Imperial College London. He is currently pursuing research in GI endoscopy, and has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications in addition to many book chapters and reviews. He is a referee for several global GI endoscopy journals of high impact. He is regularly invited to perform live endoscopy demonstrations at international meetings. He is also part of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guidelines committee for small bowel endoscopy. He is a Fellow of the European Board of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (FEBGH) since 2012.

In his spare time, Dr Despott likes to paint seascapes in oils, expand his photography portfolio or do some deep-sea fishing. He is fluent in English, Italian and Maltese.