As for how I got into snakebite research, I’ve always been interested in snakes since I was kid and even had a stint where I told everyone I wanted to be a “snake scientist” when I grew up. But as I got older, I never thought it would actually form a part of my professional life as an adult. I saw an article by a lab in New York discussing the medicinal potential of compounds found in snail venoms in 2018 and, with the assumption that the venom research world likely isn’t very big (a correct assumption, I later realised), I emailed the lead author out of the blue to ask if they knew anyone who did work with snake venoms and who might be interested in hiring a pharmacologist. She introduced me to Professor Nick Casewell at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine who was pursuing the development of drugs for the treatment of snakebite, and was indeed on the lookout for someone with a drug research background. Long story short, I moved to Liverpool from my home country of Canada to become a snakebite pharmacologist, and the rest, as they say, is history!

If you were a student coming in right now, what are the kinds of things that you might be looking at?

Have a general idea of what kind of career you hope to pursue when you complete your studies. This can (and likely will) change over time, and you shouldn’t limit yourself to that career path should your interests change over the course of your degree. But having a general idea and goal will help you stay focused and give you direction as you study. Pharmacology in the UK is in my (admittedly biased) opinion a powerful background to have, as the pharmaceutical and biotech industry is strong, there are many world-class universities where drug research is undertaken, and even certain government policy or civil servant roles require a background in drug sciences. In addition, the techniques used in pharmacology are widely adopted from and applicable to other fields, like biology, chemistry, physiology, and biochemistry to name a few; therefore, should your interests and career aspirations change after completing a degree in pharmacology, you certainly are not pigeonholed into only pharmacology-specific professions.

Do you have any kind of grounds to be hopeful that snakebite can realistically be better treated using drugs?

Yes. My own research has shown some incredibly positive results and I am very optimistic that a new, multidrug-based therapy for snakebite will eventually become available and drastically improve the treatment of this devastating neglected tropical disease. In my opinion, it is absolutely a question of when, not if.