Dr Michael Toolan
Michael came to medicine as a graduate having previously studied Classics and worked as a strategy consultant. He is dual training in Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine. This mix has been particularly interesting and challenging during the coronavirus outbreak as he has been involved in the adaptation of both acute and routine services, including developing procedures and training material to rapidly upskill doctors new to intensive care.
He has been heavily involved in the South London Critical Care Network (SLACCN), helping to set up and deliver a programme of ICU clinical peer review and as a trainer in critical care transfer. He has now been appointed SLACCN Peer Review Lead. He has been faculty on a number of clinical and non-clinical courses and helped write the first UK national guideline for diagnosing death by neurological criteria in patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). He has trained at Guy’s and St Thomas’, Lewisham and Greenwich, King’s College Hospital and The Royal Brompton.
Prior to studying medicine, Michael studied Classics at Magdalen College, Oxford after which he spent 7 years working first in advertising and then as a strategy consultant. He helped build a boutique strategy business focused on the commercial insurance space. He studied medicine at King’s College London where he graduated in 2011 with distinction, having won a number of prizes and scholarships, and came second overall in the final exam."
Michael hopes to build on his background in management and strategy in his future medical career. He is delighted to have been appointed to the National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellowship Scheme and to be joining the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). He is looking forward to developing an understanding of the NHS, and its constituent bodies, from the inside during what is likely to be a period of significant clinical and organisational change. In particular, he is looking forward to getting exposure to NICE’s core activities of health technology assessment and guideline development and dissemination as well as its longer term projects and the process of adaptation to coronavirus.
