Michael E. Kelly obtained a BSc, MD, Neurosurgery Residency, and a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan. He completed a cerebrovascular surgery fellowship at Stanford University and a two-year combined fellowship in endovascular and cerebrovascular neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic. He served as the Saskatchewan Chair in Clinical Stroke Research from 2012 to 2022. He was the program director and division head for neurosurgery and became a full professor at the University of Saskatchewan in 2017. He became the Knight Family Enhancement Chair in Neurological Surgery in 2022 and in 2023 was appointed the Provincial Department Head of Surgery and Fred H. Wigmore Professor.