David Scrimgeour AM has graduated in medicine and public health from the University of Melbourne and Harvard University, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Adelaide. He has worked in many parts of Australia and the Third World as a general practitioner and public health physician.

His main professional interest has been in the health care of Australian First Nations within the spirit of self-determination, particularly in the remote Western Desert region of Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia, where he has worked periodically for over forty years. In 2009 he became a member of the Order of Australia for his contributions to the health care of remote First Nations communities.