Personal Profile
Training and Appointment
Dr Michael qualified in medicine at University of Wroclaw, Poland in 1994, and undertook general medical and oncology training in London, at St George's Hospital, The Royal Marsden Hospital and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital. She was awarded a PhD from St George’s for research into cancer immunotherapy, with a special interest in cancer vaccines, in 2006 and completed her specialist training in Medical Oncology in 2007.
Dr Michael was appointed as a Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Medical Oncologist at the University of Surrey and Royal Surrey County Hospital in 2008.
Throughout her training, and in her current post, Dr Michael has worked in the cancer clinical trials' field, including early phase studies with novel immunotherapy agents, gene therapy and cancer vaccines as well as international multi-centre phase III and IV studies.
Research
Dr Michael has published over 40 scientific papers and continues research at the University of Surrey, Guildford, focusing on both ovarian cancer and urological cancers. Her research in ovarian cancer field evolved around clinical trials, especially cancer vaccine studies, studies with viral gene therapy, HOX genes and clinical research on optimal management of patients with inoperable malignant bowel obstruction. Her more recent work on ovarian cancer has focused on clinical management guidelines in women with malignant bowel obstruction.
She was recently awarded the prestigious Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) NIHR grant to undertake work into whether an electronic frailty index will help clinicians ensure older patients receive the correct and appropriate treatment for their cancer diagnosis, according to their needs. The funding will enable Dr Michael to carry out this essential research at the Royal Surrey County Hospital and University of Surrey.
Current Practice
Dr Michael specialises in the treatment of ovarian cancer and kidney cancer. She has a specialist interest in immunotherapy treatment and clinical trials of new cancer treatments.
Additionally she is a divisional lead for cancer within Kent, Surrey and Sussex Clinical Research Network and has been Medical Director for Surrey Clinical Trials Unit since 2015. She is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey.
