Honorary Specialty Registrar in Rheumatology/PhD candidate
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
My name is Dr Michael Chen-Xu (MBChB, MRCP, MPH) and I am an Honorary Specialty Registrar in Rheumatology/Vasculitis and a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. I completed my undergraduate medical training and residency in New Zealand, before graduating with a Masters of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2018. I then moved to the United Kingdom to pursue my higher speciality training in Rheumatology and Internal Medicine in 2020, and matriculated into a PhD program at the University of Cambridge in July 2022. For my PhD, I am investigating immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination among patients with autoimmune disease on immunosuppression at both an epidemiologic and multi-omic level, so that we can better identify those at highest risk of poorer outcomes from COVID-19 infection and optimise vaccination strategies for these vulnerable patients. Additionally, I am a sub-PI at Addenbrooke's Hospital on the PROTECT-V (PROphylaxis for paTiEnts at risk of COVID-19 infecTion trial, https://www.camcovidtrials.net/trials/view,protect_50.htm), which is investigating the use of Sotrovimab as pre-exposure prophylaxis for patients who are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.