Dr Edward Despott is a London-based consultant gastroenterologist, gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopist and trust-wide clinical lead at the Royal Free Unit for Endoscopy, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. He serves as an honorary senior lecturer at the University College London Institute for Liver and Digestive Health (Royal Free Campus). His specialist interests include device-assisted enteroscopy (double-balloon enteroscopy in particular), capsule endoscopy, therapeutic colonoscopy (especially complex polypectomy, including endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD)) and transnasal upper GI endoscopy. He is also interested in the diagnosis and management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and endoscopic management of IBD-related complications (such as dilatation of small bowel and colonic strictures).

Dr Despott underwent specialist and sub-specialist GI and advanced GI endoscopy training in the North East Thames training rotation of the London Deanery School of Medicine, at the Wolfson Unit for Endoscopy, St Mark’s Hospital, and in Japan. He has received several national and international scholarships and bursaries relating to advanced GI endoscopy and has also been awarded MD(Res) (Imperial College London) for his thesis on research in this field.

Dr Despott has an on-going interest in academic GI endoscopy, authoring numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and reviews and is a referee for several international GI endoscopy journals of high impact. He is also regularly invited as a speaker, live endoscopy demonstrator and hands-on trainer at national and international conferences and meetings and is a member of numerous international endoscopy guideline and education committees. He is the co-organiser of the internationally renowned Royal Free Advanced Endoscopy Masterclass, which attracts experts from around the world as a major educational event.