Malcolm ​Potts, MB, BChir, PhD, FRCOG

Professor of the Graduate School, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
David Malcolm Potts is a human reproductive scientist and Professor at the School of Public Health. He was the founding director of the Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability at the School.
Phone: (510) 642-6915
Address: University Hall #207 G
Berkeley, CA 94704

Biography

David Malcolm Potts is a human reproductive scientist and Professor of Public Health at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the first holder of the Fred H. Bixby-endowed chair in Population and Family Planning and founding director of the Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability at the School of Public Health. Potts completed a medical degree and a PhD in embryology at the University of Cambridge.

He has published ten books and over 350 scientific papers and articles. His books include Abortion (co-written with Peter Diggory and John Peel, 1977), Textbook of Contraceptive Practice (1st edition co-written with John Peel, 1969; 2nd edition co-written with Peter Diggory, 1983; long the key textbook in the field), Queen Victoria’s Gene (written with his brother Prof. William Potts), Ever since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality (written with Dr Roger Short, 1999) and Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World (co-written with Thomas Hayden, 2008).

Research Interests

  • Mobilization of resources for international family planning
  • Reducing nonevidence-based barriers preventing access to contraception and safe abortion
  • Reducing maternal deaths, especially through the use of misoprostol to control postpartum hemorrhage
  • Evolution of human sexual behavior
  • Biological origins of human warfare
  • AIDS prevention strategies, resources, and role of male circumcision

Education

  • PhD – Anatomy
    Cambridge University, 1965
  • MB, BChir (MD) – University College Hospital Medical School, 1962
  • MA – Natural Sciences
    Cambridge University, 1960
  • BA – Cambridge University, 1959

Courses Taught

    • PB HLTH 116
    • Seminar on Social, Political and Ethical Issues
    • Health and Medical Apprenticeship Program
    • PB HLTH 181
    • Population and Poverty
    • (co-taught Prata and Campbell)