Sir David Keith Peters FRS FMedSci FRCP FRCPE FRCPath FLSW (born 26 July 1938, Baglan, Neath Port Talbot) was Regius Professor of Physic at the University of Cambridge from 1987 to 2005, where he was also head of the School of Clinical Medicine.
He graduated in Medicine from the Welsh National School of Medicine in 1961. After posts in the University of Birmingham, the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill and the Welsh National School of Medicine, he was appointed Lecturer in Medicine and Consultant Physician at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS), Hammersmith Hospital.
Between 1969 and 1975 he was successively Lecturer in Medicine, Lecturer in Medicine and Immunology, and Reader in Medicine, before being appointed Professor of Medicine and Director of the Department of Medicine at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in 1977. Keith Peters' research interests centre on the immunology of renal and vascular disease, and in particular on how delineation of immunological mechanisms can lead to new therapies for these disorders.
He was Knighted in the 1993 New Year's Honours List and was made Fellow of the Royal Society in 1995. His major contributions to UK medicine have been through the promotion of clinical research. At the RPMS he was responsible for sustaining the outstanding reputation of the Department of Medicine; and in Cambridge under his leadership the University's Clinical School has become a major centre for medical research, complementing Cambridge's strengths in basic biomedical science. Universally acknowledged to be one of the great 'team makers' and for many is regarded as the king-maker of recent Cambridge science.
He was the President of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2002–2006) and is currently a Senior Consultant in Research and Development for GlaxoSmithKline.
Peters is an Honorary Fellow of Christ's College and Clare Hall, Cambridge, Cambridge University and has received Honorary Doctorates and Fellowships from the following Universities: Wales, Aberdeen Nottingham,Paris, Birmingham, Leicester, Glasgow, Sussex, Bristol. He is also a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
Keith Peters was born 26 July 1938 in Baglan, Neath Port Talbot, the only child of Herbert Lionel Peters, a steelworks foreman, and Olive Peters (née Mainwaring). He attended Glan Afan Grammar School and then studied medicine at the Welsh National School of Medicine, Cardiff where he met his first wife, Jean Garfield. They had two children, Andrew and Katharine. They were divorced in 1977. He later married Pamela Ewan in 1978. They had three children, James, Hannah and William.