Michael J. G. Farthing first visited India as a volunteer at a mission hospital in a village in the Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, before he qualified as a doctor from University College London and the University College Hospital Medical School. Since then, he has visited India in several different capacities.
He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex (2007-2016), where he is an emeritus professor. He was a research fellow and an honorary lecturer at St Bartholomew’s Hospital London, then a Welcome Tropical Lecturer, and then senior lecturer, honorary consultant and professor of gastroenterology. He became Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Professor of Medicine at the University of Glasgow, followed by being appointed Principal of St George’s University of London. He has had numerous Government and national body roles, including Co-ordinator (Gastroenterology) for the UK/ Poland Health Agreement, member for the Education Committee and Undergraduate Board of the General Medical Council, curriculum planning for the new medical school established jointly by the Universities of Hull and York, and non-executive Directorships of the Greater Glasgow NHS Board, of the South West London Strategic Health Authority, and of the Brighton and Sussex University Trust. He is Honorary Consultant in Gastroenterology to the British Army, and he is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.