Background
He was born in Dumfries in 1957 and was educated at Breconbeds School, Kirtlebridge, Annan Academy and the University of Edinburgh.
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David Gow
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He studied Mechanical Engineering from 1975 to 1979, graduating with honours in Engineering Science.
Career
He then worked for a year at Ferranti (Scotland) a defence contractor in Edinburgh. In January 1981 he began a research post at the University of Edinburgh lasting until 1984 when he transferred to the National Health Service (National Health Service). Since 1993 to date he has managed the Rehabilitation Technology Services for National Health Service Lothian and is based at the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology Centre in Edinburgh.
He began a programme of research activities in the field of upper limb prosthetics.
In 1998 he fitted a fellow Scot, Campbell Aird with an electrical arm prosthesis containing the world"s first electrical shoulder. In 2002 he founded and spun out the first company from the National Health Service, Touch EMAS Limited and became its first Chief Executive Officer. He invented the i-Limb and ProDigits partial hand system (now i-Limb digits).
He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Gow was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to upper limb prosthetics.
David retired from the National Health Service in April 2015.
