Ko Taylor’s Falls te maunga, ko Mississippi te awa, Michael Connelly grew up in Minnesota in the United States. He spent a year as a Fulbright Fellow studying traditional antimalarials in Malawi.
Following this he earned his medical degree and an MPH in International Health. He completed emergency medicine training in Atlanta, USA in 2003. In 2010 he was working in Miami when a 7.0 Earthquake decimated Port-au-Prince leaving hundreds of thousands dead or maimed. He eventually flew to Haiti to support emergency services at a tent hospital. He returned 2 years later to provide care at L’Hospital Bernard Mevs in the capital. In 2014 Michael moved with his wife and 3 children to New Zealand. He earned his FACEM after completing IMG requirements at Waikato and has served as Taranaki’s Clinical Director of EM since 2018. He is ACEM’s Aotearoa Faculty Board deputy-chair and a member of CAPP.