David Rowitch is a developmental neuroscientist, professor and head of pediatrics at the University of Cambridge and an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator and an honorary professor at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

Rowitch’s laboratory investigates genetic factors that determine the development and diversity of glial cells of the brain and the response to injury, particularly multiple sclerosis, leukodystrophy and other neurodevelopmental conditions. He has recently conducted the first single-cell RNA sequencing of tissue from postmortem autism brains, including RNA from neurons and glia. As a practicing physician specializing in neonatology, Rowitch’s interest in precision medicine focuses on applications of genomic technologies to diagnose and better understand the biological basis and rational treatment of rare neurological disorders. He is director of the new Cambridge Children’s Hospital and is a principal investigator on the Wellcome Trust Spectrum 10K project.