Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
Help Desk: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ras/portico/helpdesk
- Emeritus Professor
- Neuro, Physiology & Pharmacology
- Div of Biosciences
- Faculty of Life Sciences
After graduating BA in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge in 1972, I stayed there for a further three years studying for a PhD at the Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham. I then held a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich for three years and spent just under a year at the University of Bristol before joining the Department of Physiology (now Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology) at UCL in 1979.


In recent years, my research has centred on steroid hormones, which have long been known to enter the central nervous system to influence its development and function. Some steroids have also been shown to be present in brain tissue independently of peripheral endocrine sources, the so-called neurosteroids. My laboratory focused on identifying and measuring the actual steroid content of brain and studying the enzymes responsible for catalysing steroid activation and inactivation in this tissue. Some of these enzymes have been found to be targets for clinically important drugs. I have now retired from active laboratory research.
In addition to supervising research projects and teaching physiology to BSc and MBBS students, I also took a lead in the development of the Natural Sciences BSc/MSci programme here at UCL. In retirement, I now help with the UCL Medical School Education Consultancy.
2014 | ATQ04 - Recognised by the HEA as a Senior Fellow | University College London | |
2007 | ATQ03 - Recognised by the HEA as a Fellow | University College London | |
2001 | ATQ09 - Other UK accreditation or qualification in teaching in the higher education sector | University College London | |
1977 | Doctor of Philosophy | University of Cambridge | |
1976 | Master of Arts | University of Cambridge | |
1972 | Bachelor of Arts (Honours) | University of Cambridge |