George Galea joined the medical course at the Royal University of Malta between 1972-77. He finished the medical examinations in London. Following house jobs in Hartlepool and Aberdeen he became a lecturer in Haematology at Aberdeen University and obtained his MD (PhD equivalent) from Aberdeen University in 1990. Dr. Galea is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCPE) and Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists(FRCPath). Following accredited training in haematology, he specialised in blood transfusion and became a consultant in Aberdeen in 1989. He then proceeded to become Regional Transfusion Director in Inverness and Dundee between 1992-1999.
Dr Galea has always had an interest in tissue banking and was instrumental in establishing the first bone banks in Aberdeen and Inverness. He has led tissue services in Scotland since 1999 following the establishment of Tissue banking as a national directorate within SNBTS.Dr Galea has led his tissue establishments through a number of inspection processes by various regulatory and accreditation authorities. He has a special interest in GMP and clinical governance. Following his retirement from the NHS in 2013, he was appointed as a consultant to the Maltese Government advising on transfusion management, tissue and cell banking in Malta. He also consults to a variety of other bodies.
Dr Galea has won a number of scholarships including ones from the Council of Europe and the Myre Sim Travelling fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians. He sat on a number of UK committees in relation to Tissue banking. He was elected President of the British Association for Tissue Banking between 2003-05. He sits on various EU and WHO committees and also chairs the recently established European Blood Alliance tissues and cell working group. He has published widely and has more than 56 publications in peer reviewed journals, a number of leaders and editorials and in 2010 he has edited a book on tissue banking. In 2014 he received the Ian Cook Memorial Award for outstanding achievement in his field.
