Professor Michael Simpson is the Professor of Genetics and Head of the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics at King’s College London. He has a specific research interest in the genetics of inflammatory skin disease and has led a series of large-scale studies of the genetic predisposition to psoriasis and acne, which have provided critical insight into disease mechanisms.
Michael originally trained as a pharmacologist and subsequently studied Human Molecular Genetics at Imperial College before undertaking his PhD at St. George’s University of London. His doctoral research focused on resolving the genetic basis of recessive disorders found at an elevated frequency in Old Order Amish populations. In 2009, Michael moved to King’s College London, where his research capitalized on advances in DNA sequencing technologies to identify the genetic basis of a series of rare diseases, including pustular psoriasis that had proved intractable to traditional gene mapping approaches.
His research group continues to focus on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the genetic susceptibility to skin disease and the genetic basis of variation in therapeutic. Michael is also actively involved in developing the analytical approaches needed to deploy contemporary genomic technologies at scale in healthcare systems.