Meet Mike—Working to find a cure for the incurable.
Q: What is your role in health research?
A: I’m a Clinical Research Coordinator with the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia. My role is to ensure that every study I coordinate runs according to approved guidelines and standards.
Q: What is your research area of interest, and what led you to that interest?
A: My work focuses on Huntington’s disease research. I find being a part of the global effort to find a cure for this debilitating illness a privileged experience.
Q: What’s the best part about your research job?
A: I consider asking people and family to participate in research a solemn engagement. When they agree, I hold that trust very dearly, and I try to go the extra mile to ensure that the participants' confidence in research is preserved throughout the research process. I consider earning people’s trust a great accomplishment.
Q: What does your average day at work look like?
A: Each day is unpredictable. I interact with internal and external partners across geographical locations and time zones from Australia to the West Coast of the United States, and each of the partners may request urgent attention. So I have to be well organized, flexible and have my multitasking cap on all the time.
Q: What is one of the biggest accomplishments or proudest moments of your research career?
A: I remember a time when we had under 96 hours to enroll participants in a phase two study. Our principal investigator was skeptical about whether we would be able to make it because it would typically take several weeks to meet the expected recruitment target. But I coordinated efforts to work the phone for about 24 hours and our site was the number one recruitment site. I was immensely proud of my role in achieving that feat.
Q: What do you do for fun in your spare time?
A: I like to spend time with my children and grandchildren, and I enjoy walking. I walk an average of 45 kilometers every week.
Q: Who inspires you?
A: I attribute whatever I am to the many teachers who helped to shape my life. My teachers at every level of my education influenced me a lot and I sincerely appreciate all of them. The slogan I grew up with is “If you can read and write, thank a teacher.” So a big thank you to all my teachers.
Q: What was your first job?
A: My first job was serving as a fisheries officer in the Nigerian Institute of Oceanography. At the time, Nigeria was promoting commercial fishing and I coordinated issuance of fishing gear, like outboard engines and fishing nets, to local cooperative societies enrolled in the program. I enjoyed the work a lot.
Q: What’s one thing we might be surprised to learn about you?
A: I was a skilled mountain climber in my younger years and I went on several expeditions, but I dropped out of the sport to concentrate on professional obligations. But, to the chagrin of fellow tourists, I was able to leverage my prior climbing experience to get to the very peak of Egypt’s Mt. Sinai in record time during a tour in 2019.
