Dr. David Alfery was raised in the North but moved to Louisiana to attend Tulane University where he graduated with a BA degree in English.  He then attended LSU Medical School in New Orleans.  After graduating, he took the Louisiana State Medical Licensing Exam where he received the highest grade out of approximately 400 new doctors from the three medical schools in the state.  He spent a year as a surgical intern at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky and then did his residency in anesthesia at the University of California in San Diego.  He stayed on there for an additional year of fellowship training in cardiothoracic anesthesia.

In 1980 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he spent a thirty-six-year career in private practice.  He has served as a Chief of Anesthesia, President of the Tennessee State Society of Anesthesiologists, and was a founding member of Anesthesia Medical Group, one of the largest anesthesia practices in the United States.  For twenty years he served as an Oral Examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology, ending his tenure as a Senior Examiner.  He holds an academic appointment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as Adjunct Associate Professor of Anesthesiology.  While in practice, he participated in numerous medical missions with Operation Smile.  Following his retirement from work in the Operating Room, he co-founded the AMG Ketamine and Wellness Center in Nashville, where he assists in patient care when needed.

Dr. Alfery has authored ten chapters in medical textbooks and 41 peer reviewed articles in anesthesia medical journals.  He has invented several anesthesia devices that are sold worldwide and for which he has been awarded 17 US and International patents.