My friend and colleague David Cosgrove, who has died aged 78, was a pioneer of clinical ultrasound, a non-invasive medical imaging technique that uses sound waves to examine joints, vessels and internal organs of the body as well as to monitor babies in the womb.
He was known for his work on developing microbubble-contrast ultrasound, where trackable bubbles much smaller than a red blood cell are injected into the bloodstream so that blood flow and other information can be monitored.
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, to Alfred, an electrical engineer, and his wife, Kathleen, a secretary, David attended Duke of York high school there. He took a BA in physiology at St Edmund Hall, Oxford (1961), then a BM BCh (bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery) at St George’s hospital medical school in London (1963), and later an MSc in nuclear medicine at University of London (1975).
He went back to Nairobi in 1971 to work briefly as a medical registrar at the Jomo Kenyatta hospital before returning to London as senior medical registrar at the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital.
In 1973 he joined the Royal Marsden hospital as a research fellow, becoming a consultant in 1977. It was there that he established his international reputation in the field of ultrasound in cancer diagnostics. He was part of a team that built its own ultrasound scanners for clinical use, and, among other things, explored computer-assisted diagnosis using methods that were the precursor of what is now known as “deep learning”.
He left the Marsden in 1993 and established a research team at the Hammersmith hospital in London to look at microbubble-contrast ultrasound, and was subsequently made professor (later emeritus) of clinical ultrasound at Imperial College London.
David published about 200 research articles and 30 books or chapters in books, but will be particularly remembered for his teaching. He inspired the careers of individuals all over the world, both clinical and technical.
He held visiting professorships in the US and China, and was a sought-after conference speaker. An adviser to various governmental and grant-giving authorities, he was also a member of many editorial boards of journals and expert working groups.
He was a co-founder of the International Contrast Ultrasound Society and advised companies on how to improve the design of ultrasound scanners. He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1967 and a fellow in 1990, and was an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists from 1998 onwards.
In retirement he gave his time as a senior research investigator at King’s College hospital and continued weekly clinical sessions at the Hammersmith and Charing Cross hospitals.
Despite his huge reputation in his field, David was a modest, gentle and kind person who valued listening to music, the arts, nature (including diving), cooking and spending time with his friends.
He is survived by his partner, Zhen Li, and by his brother, John.
