David arrived at the
University of Manchester in 1972. She established the Manchester Egyptian Mummy Project at the University of Manchester in 1973. David was the director of the KNH Centre for Biological and Forensic Studies in Egyptology at the University of Manchester for twenty five years. She was the first woman to become a professor of Egyptology. She worked as Keeper of Egyptology at the
Manchester Museum. She pioneered biomedical research in Egyptology, studying disease, living conditions, pharmacy and medicine in ancient Egypt. In the late 1990s she established the only Egyptian Mummy Tissue Bank. She was awarded the
British Council medal at the
Anglo-French Medical Society in September 1999. David used
Raman spectroscopy to study ancient Egyptian pigments. David was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the
2003 New Year Honours, "for services to Egyptology". David is Vice President of the
Egypt Exploration Society. David appeared in several film and TV shows about Egypt, working on
Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs, Private Lives of the Pharaohs and The Story of Science. By studying remains from Ancient Egypt, David found evidence that cancer is a man-made disease caused by modern pollution and diet in 2010. She identified that the rich banquets offered to ancient Egyptian gods could block the arteries of high priests, who took the offerings home from temples for their families. David is an
emeritus professor at the
University of Manchester, having retired in 2012. She spoke at
TEDx King's College London in 2013.
Books • • ©1988 • * • • • • • • • •
Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt Facts On File, 2003 • •
About David • == References ==