This month we hear from Fred Westhorpe, our Director of Discovery Pharmacology …
I am a part of the Compass team helping to … design, understand and develop potential new therapies for people suffering with mental health challenges
I work in mental health care because … we all have mental health, just as we all have physical health. There is a massive movement to acknowledge mental health and a growing unmet medical need in mental health illness. I am proud to be part of the research into novel medicines to help treat mental health challenges, and to help push the frontiers of our understanding of the human brain
The part of my job I most enjoy is … working with so many talented, energetic, driven people on a common goal, and learning so much every day!
The best place I’ve ever visited is … I was lucky enough to spend a decade in California, so I’m spoilt for choice! Yosemite has to be a candidate. However, the Big Sur coast and Monterrey Bay holds many great memories, so I’ll go there
What I am most grateful for is … family and friends. I now live back in the UK so it’s resonating even more
My proudest personal achievement is … running the Big Sur Marathon and putting in the training to run it well. Professionally, it’s building a lab and seeing other scientists doing good science in it
The book everyone should read is … “Have you seen who’s just moved in next door to us?” by Colin McNaughton. A slightly left-field choice – it’s a children’s book that my parents read to me, and now I read to my kids! Great illustrations, rolling rhymes, and a clever message of prejudice and acceptance that fosters conversations no matter who is reading it
The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is … KISS: keep it simple, stupid!