Dr Pierre Schembri-Wismayer studied medicine where his main interest and excellence was in the basic medical sciences and pathology. Following his housemanship (foundation), he did a month of voluntary work with the Swedish Rotary Doctor Bank in Kenya on the Somali Border and then read for his PhD on the differentiation of Leukaemia at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in association with Glasgow University. This research was funded by a competitively awarded Commonwealth Scholarship.

Upon returning, Dr Schembri-Wismayer worked at a number of positions including A&E and the National Blood Transfusion service before moving on to secondment in the molecular pathology lab. After this, took up a post as a senior lecturer in the Anatomy department. His ongoing research in the department (which he headed form 2008 to 2014) focuses on cancer differentiation therapy, tumour immunotherapy, stem cell research and biomechanics.