Following house jobs in Hartlepool and Aberdeen Dr. Galea became 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 establishments 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.  This directorate supplied tissues for Scottish patients.The range of tissues banked included- fresh frozen bones, tendons, heart valves, peripheral blood stem cells, skin and vessels. Later, cellular therapies and processing of islet cells for diabetic patients started in 2010 followed by the processing of limbal stem cells. 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 tissue and cell banking in Malta.

He sat on a number of UK committees in relation to Tissue banking and chaired the SAC on Donor care and Tissue and Cell banking for 6 years. He was elected President of the British Association for Tissue Banking between 2003-05. He represented the UK on various EU and WHO committees and also chaired the European Blood Alliance tissues and cell working group. He has published widely and has60 publications in peer reviewed journals, including a number of leaders and editorials and in 2010 he has edited a book on tissue banking- Essentials for Tissue Banking. This is the second edition.

In his current position, Dr Galea sits on 2 EDQM  and 1 EU committee representing Malta. He is also a Senior lecturer at the University of Malta and has established an MSc in Tissue and Cell banking. 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. In 2014 he received the Ian Cook Memorial Award for outstanding achievement in his field.