Michael earned a bachelor of science degree in clinical-community psychology from the University of Michigan-Flint and master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Bowling Green State University.  He completed a pre-doctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Kansas School of Medicine Wichita.  Subsequently, he was a full-time psychology professor for 20 years, during which he wrote more than 250 published articles, book chapters, and books, and was a frequent expert contributor to the website Ask the Psychologist.  Over the past 30 years Michael delivered more than 4,000 class sessions and presentations.

In 2015 Michael left his tenured faculty position to provide professional development as the inaugural Director of Faculty Development at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville.  There he created and executed workshops and longitudinal leadership development programs, provided individual coaching and interventions for teams, and taught the popular course Leadership in Medicine.  From 2020 to 2022 Michael served as the inaugural Director of Leadership and Professional Development in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he continues to hold a graduate faculty appointment.

Michael has written a blog for Psychology Today since 2022, where his brief articles have been viewed more than one half million times.