Michael Gammage qualified from the University of Birmingham in 1979 and undertook house jobs in Worcester and East Birmingham (now Heartlands). He then started clinical training in General Medicine and Cardiology, returning to Birmingham University as a British Heart Foundation Junior Research Fellow in 1983, where he worked in the Departments of Cardiovascular Medicine and Physiology, gaining his MD in 1987. Continuing training in Leicester and Birmingham, he was appointed British Heart Foundation Senior Lecturer in Birmingham and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at the General and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in 1990.
Having developed a strong clinical interest in cardiac pacing, he contributed to the development of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital as a major centre for cardiac pacing and electrophysiology and has taken a lead in the development and introduction of selective site pacing internationally, including steering multi-centre studies and driving an educational programme to support and promote the implementation of this improvement in therapy. He continues to work as a Consultant Cardiologist for the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and is responsible for their syncope service.
With a long-standing interest in teaching and training in cardiology at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, he took over as lead for the MBChB Graduate Entry Course in 2006, gaining additional responsibility as Programme Lead for the 5 year course in 2008 and being appointed Vice Dean for Medical Education in 2010. During this time, the 2014 curriculum review has taken place and is now being implemented across the 16 Teaching Trusts within the West Midlands, with the aims of improving the student experience whilst modernizing the course content, maintaining the identity and professional standards of the Birmingham graduate, and continuing to provide some 400 high- quality medical graduates each year.
Research interests are clinical and relate to the influence of cardiac pacing on left ventricular function. Recent work has focused on new methods to deliver pacing leads, new lead designs and the long-term influence of right ventricular septal pacing on cardiac function.
Gammage MD Impact of syncope on quality of life: do we need another tool? Europace 2009;11(10): 1265-6.
Gammage MD. Selective site pacing in paediatric patients--technology or function? Europace. 2009;11(5):542-3.
Gammage MD. Base over apex: does site matter for pacing the right ventricle? Europace. 2008;10(5):572-3.
Gammage MD, Lieberman RA, Yee R, Manolis AS, Compton SJ, Khazen C, Schaaf K, Oleson KA, Crossley GH. Multi-center clinical experience with a lumenless, catheter-delivered, bipolar, permanent pacemaker lead: implant safety and electrical performance. Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology 2006;29: 858-865
Brignole M, Gammage MD, Puggioni et al. Comparative assessment of right, left and bi-ventricular pacing in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation. European Heart Journal 2005 26, 717-22
Puggioni E, Brignole M, Gammage M et al. Acute comparative effect of right and left ventricular pacing in patients with atrial fibrillation. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2004;43(2):234-8
Gammage MD. Cardiovascular funny turns. In: Horizons in Medicine (16). Ed: Franklyn JA, Royal College of Physicians of London, London, 2005, pp43-9.
Franklyn JA and Gammage MD. Morbidity and mortality in thyroid dysfunction and its treatment. In: Werner and Ingbar’s The Thyroid, a fundamental clinical text (9th edition). Eds: Braverman LE, Utiger RD. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia PA, 2005, pp1063-1069