Doctor Michael Head

Dr Michael Head

Senior Research Fellow

Research interests

  • - Health needs of vulnerable populations e.g. refugee and rural healthcare
  • - Vaccine hesitancy in Ghana and Togo
  • - Impact of climate change upon health

More research

Accepting applications from PhD students.

Connect with Michael

About

My background is in public health research and epidemiology, with collaborations across social science researchers and computer scientists. Across the pandemic, I have led COVID-19 research studies in West Africa, in Ghana and Togo. Much of this research has covered vaccine hesitancy and also digital health interventions. Another interest is Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), particularly scabies and other skin NTDs. In 2022, I've been leading on a health needs survey aimed at Ukrainian refugees and displaced populations, along with a similar study around the Burkina Faso refugees who are in northern Ghana. 

I am experienced at public engagement, outreach and working with the media (including dozens of interviews on BBC, CNN and other TV stations, and my quotes to the print media have been republished thousands of times in newspapers around the world).

I teach at undergraduate and postgraduate level, including lectures on vaccination and misinformation, precision public health, and global health research.
My student supervisions includes PhD and MSc students on topics covering climate change and health in Ghana, modelling the spread of misinformation and vaccine hesitancy in communities, and the use of computer science networks to identify and predict trends in funding for infectious disease research