Michael Baker (epidemiologist)

Michael George Baker is an epidemiologist with the University of Otago. Baker is a member of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority's Academy and of the New Zealand Ministry of Health's Pandemic Influenza Technical Advisory Group (PITAG).
Early life.
Baker studied at the University of Otago, where he graduated MB ChB and earned a Diploma in Public Health, and the University of Auckland where he obtained a Diploma in Obstetrics.
Career.
He originally wanted to specialise in emergency medicine or psychiatry, but got a job as a medical advisor for the Minister of Health. In that role he worked on the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and helped to set up a needle exchange programme.
He was appointed to the faculty at Otago in 1997, rising to the rank of professor in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington in 2013.
He has campaigned to reduce campylobacter contamination in chicken in New Zealand.
COVID-19 pandemic.
In January 2020, Baker began to read reports about the COVID-19 outbreak in China, and he was asked to join the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group. In February 2020 he was advocating with colleagues at the University of Otago to 'stamp out' COVID-19 in New Zealand and keep it out, rather than trying to 'flatten the curve'. The Government eventually introduced a countrywide lockdown.
In April 2020, Baker stated that New Zealand had the "most decisive and strongest lockdown in the world at the moment" and that it is the only Western country where the goal is to eliminate COVID-19. Baker thinks we will look back on COVID-19 as "the most profound public health intervention in our history".
Honours and awards.
In 2013, Baker was awarded the HRC Liley Medal for his contribution to the health and medical sciences.
In the 2021 New Year Honours, Baker was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to public health science.
Baker is the 2020 winner of the Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize, recognising his 2000+ interviews on COVID-19 since January 2020.
Personal life.
Baker lives in Brooklyn, Wellington, with his family.