Mike Townend
Dr Mike Townend MB, ChB (Hons), Diploma in Travel Medicine, FFTM RCPS (Glasgow)Mike was for many years a GP in the Lake District, running a travel clinic in his practice and serving in the Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team. He was drawn to travel medicine by his own travelling, which includes several Himalayan expeditions and advising various other types of expeditions, travelling overland to India by Land Rover and leading numerous tours in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Southeast Asia and South America with activities ranging from mountain trekking to white water rafting. He also spent a period of NHS study leave working in a maternal and child health clinic in Nepal. Travel related research publications include traveller's diarrhoea, acute mountain sickness, trekkers’ health and asthma at high altitude.
Mike was a graduate of the first cohort of students on the Glasgow Diploma in Travel Medicine course and went on to lecture on the Glasgow Diploma course, the Diploma in Mountain Medicine course and on the Expedition Medicine course held in the Lake District. For several years he ran a successful Travel Medicine course at St. Martin's College, Lancaster. He has recently helped to plan a Wilderness Medicine course for medical students in the Lake District. He has written two books on Travel Medicine and has contributed to several other books as well as writing numerous articles for a variety of medical and nursing publications.
Mike was a founder member of the BTHA and, with a short gap, has been a member of its Executive Committee for most of the time since its inception. For several years he edited Travelwise and once again is now chairing the BTHA Publications subcommittee, with particular responsibility for the website. He is a member of the International Society of Travel Medicine and the International Society for Mountain Medicine. He was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine when it was founded in 2006.