Michael Wilkes

About Michael

• After graduating from college, I started my career as a journalist.
• I’d interview accomplished people who would describe the potential efficacy of a drug or policy but when I’d ask how they knew, they told me I wouldn’t understand—so I decided to go to medical school.
• I kept working as a television journalist through medical school and went back into journalism full-time after graduating.
• I started feeling like something in my life was missing—I wanted to work with patients and ask real research questions, not just journalism questions.
• I explored a few different residencies—psychiatry, internal medicine, preventive medicine and public health—before deciding to stick to becoming an internist.
• In addition to my MD, I earned a Master of Public Health and a Ph.D. in global epidemiology.
• I currently work as a professor of medicine and global health at UC Davis and I run a high risk clinic for homeless teens.
• I’ve also continued pursuing my journalistic interests by hosting the KCRW medical radio show, “Second Opinion.”