Question: did anyone influence you to be what you do now?

Hi spike19, your question has made me think quite a bit! I’ve met so many fantastic people who have all influenced me in a small way but I can’t think of any singe person that has had the most influence…

We had pets growing up, and so I think the local vet, Charles probably had quite a bit of influence – I used to go and hang out in the local clinic sometimes in the school holidays and watch the operations and help with the animals. From a really young age I wanted to be a vet.

Then, I got interested in cancer when working as a vet because so many cancers that affect pets also affect people – I wanted to find out why certain breeds of dog get one type of cancer more than another and maybe that could also help people with cancer. So, thats when I decided to do some scientific research and my PhD supervisor, Pip also had a huge influence on why I am still in science!

And, then there’s the creative, science illustration part of me… which kind of has just bubbled along under the surface likely influenced by my art teacher at school, Mr Noble. He was the first person who convinced me that art was not all about making physical drawings with a pencil and paper – he was the first one that introduced me to making art using a computer.

So I think in life you cross paths with lots of people from all walks of life. It pays to be interested and ask lots of questions about what they do and why (like you are now!), because you never know how they are going to affect what you do in life!