David Spanswick

David Spanswick is a Professor of Physiology at Monash University's Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of East Anglia (1986) and a PhD in neurophysiology from the University of Birmingham. His career includes roles as a Post-doctoral researcher, lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, Senior Lecturer at the University of Warwick (2000), and Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at Warwick Medical School (2004) before joining Monash in 2011. He teaches PHY3012: Integrative Neuroscience.

Research interests focus on metabolic neuroscience, pain signaling, and electrophysiology. His work explores neural circuits regulating appetite, brown fat function, and adenosine's role in pain modulation. He has contributed to projects funded by ARC, NHMRC, and others, including studies on chronic pain mechanisms and corticostriatal circuitry in anorexia.

Notable awards include the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation Research Fellowship (1993), Joy Chrisholm Fellowship (1999), and multiple Royal Society Travel Scholarships. His 43+ publications span topics like adenosine receptor agonists for analgesia, metabolic sensing in AgRP neurons, and corticostriatal circuit modulation.

Spanswick has served as a referee for high-impact journals (Nature, Journal of Neuroscience) and grant agencies (Wellcome Trust, NIH). He has supervised PhD students at Monash and the University of Ottawa, and contributed to international collaborations in metabolic and pain research.