Dr. Manuel is a Medical Doctor with a Masters in Epidemiology and Royal College specialization in Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

He completed his medical degree at Dalhousie University and then worked as a general practitioner in northern and remote communities across Canada. At age 26, he was the chief of staff of the hospital at Churchill, Manitoba serving the remote Inuit communities that lined the eastern shore of Hudson Bay. He came to realize during these years that to truly make an impact on the health of his patients he needed to address underlying, preventable causes. He returned to study public health and epidemiology at the University of Toronto. During his residency training he began his research career, which continues to address the same themes that arose during his earlier clinical practice.

His current practice is at the Ottawa Newcomer Clinic Centre, the health care point of entry for refugees arriving in Ottawa. He has published over 150 research papers, including papers in leading journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the British Medical Journal. He has held a Chair in Applied Public Health from the Canadian Institute of Health Research and has led public health research programs.