Michael Mackley

Michael Mackley is a medical student entering his third year at Dalhousie Medical School. His research interests are in the rapid translation of personalized medicine into clinical practice and the implications that these new technologies have for patient care and society at-large. Before attending medical school, Michael completed his doctorate at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied the clinical, ethical, and psychosocial implications of genome sequencing. Now back in Canada, he is interested in the impact of genomic and personalized medicine on the Canadian population, particularly those who are unrepresented in databases on which these technologies rely or have limited access the technologies themselves. Michael continues to publish articles in scientific journals and is a contributor to The Conversation. Born and raised in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Michael also holds a BSc in Biology from Dalhousie University.

In his own words

Why does policy matter?

As most aspiring physicians do, I pursued a career in medicine to help people improve their health. However, it didn’t take long for me to understand that the most significant determinants of health sit far outside of the clinic. While healthcare providers can have a significant impact on the health of individual patients in one-on-one interactions, policy matters because it has the ability to impact the health of entire populations.  

What do you hope to accomplish during your time as a founding fellow?

With one of the central themes of the Institute revolving around health systems, I hope to bring a practical perspective to conversations happening around health policy. I would also like to gain insights from diverse perspectives at the Institute and bring them back to the hospital and to my own work. I hope to use the opportunity to comment on and communicate health policy issues that are important to the lives of those in Nova Scotia and Canada.