Michael is a Lecturer in Infection and Immunity at Peninsula Medical School, where he teaches infectious disease pathogenesis and immunology across a wide range of programmes, including BMBS Undergraduate Medicine, Physician Associate, and MSc Global Heath.

He is currently the Deputy Programme Lead for the MSc Physician Associate programme, the BMBS Immunology Discipline Lead and the Module Leader for GH711: Introduction to Global Health.

Michael has a research background and has previously developed multiple diagnostic test kits for early human and veterinary disease detection in resource-poor settings.  Michael is currently involved in multiple global public health research projects centred around the spread of infectious disease.

He also has a keen interest in inclusivity in both public health and higher education settings. How can we ensure that everyone has equal access to this learning, in a way that fosters an understanding, whilst nurturing curiosity and an excitement to never stop learning?

Michael has supervised multiple undergraduate and MSc projects and dissertations; please get in touch if you would like to work together. 

Michael serves as chair of the Faculty of Health Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team and co-chair of the university's LGBT+ Staff Network. 

• Microbiology Society (Member)
• AdvanceHE (Associate Fellow)
• Royal Society of Biology (Member 2019 - 2022) 

• External Examiner for the Aston University MSc Physician Associate programme (2023/24 - 2026/27).
• Exeternal Adviser for the University of Worcester MSc Physician Associate programme approval (2024/25)
• Microbiology Society Teaching Committee (2022-Present)
• Microbiology Society Prize Committee (2022-2023)

Michael has over 10 years experience researching and teaching infectious disease pathogenesis, including microbiology, clinical microbiology, and tropical disease. He also has extensive experience with adaptive immunity, antibody development, and point-of-care diagnostics. In addition to teaching, Michael is also an academic tutor, a personal tutor, and contributes to exam setting and marking across the Faculty of Health. 

Michael is currently leading on:

• Deputy Programme Lead: MSc Physician Associate
• Immunology Co-Discipline Lead: BMBS Undergraduate Medicine
• Module Lead: MSc Global Health GH711: Introduction to Global Health

He also teaches on the following courses: 

• Foundation Year
• BMBS Year 1 and Year 2 Undergraduate Medicine
• MSc Global Health
• Physician's Associates Programme
• Postgraduate dissertation, supervision and assessment

Research interests:
Michael is involved with the following funded research projects:

• Water-Associated infectious Diseases in India (Wellcome Trust, 2023)
• Representation within Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL): student and staff perceptions and recommendations for change (University of Plymouth, 2022)
• Experiences of staff returning to work after parental leave (University of Plymouth, 2022)
• Curriculum adaptation, design and development: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic (University of Plymouth, 2021)
• A proposal to facilitate NHS personnel to recognise and use new learning gained on a global health experience, on their return to the NHS. An action research study (Health Education England, 2021)

If you feel our research interests align and would like to work together, please get in touch.  

Qualifications:

• PhD Cellular & Molecular Biology
• BSc Chemical Engineering
• PgCert Clinical Education Teaching