Meet the Scientists

Craig Hudson MD, FRCP(C)

Craig Hudson was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. While completing an undergraduate degree in Sciences at the University of Waterloo, he began his research training with a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) award under the late Dr. Philip Bryden. After graduating in 1984, he was accepted into the University of Toronto Medical School where he continued his research and began to pursue an interest in how cellular communication may lead to novel forms of treatment. In 1988 he was granted a Doctor of Medicine degree and completed his internship training at the Toronto Western Hospital prior to enrolling in specialty training in Psychiatry. Over the course of his medical and specialist education, Dr. Hudson trained under Canada’s pre-eminent psychiatrists and scientists including the late Dr. Jock Cleghorn, Dr. Oleh Hornykiewicz and Drs. Mary and Philip Seeman. In 1993, the year he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Canada, he published a widely cited paper in the journal Synapse which reviewed the importance of the intracellular machinery in forming compounds to treat psychological conditions.

In l993 Dr. Hudson also received the prestigious Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Award which allows specialists with promising clinical and research careers to pursue advance training in both areas. During his four year post-graduate fellowship he began to pursue research into the intracellular enzymes that controlled the release of unsaturated fats which play an important role in brain function.

Professor Dan Burke

Dan Burke, Emeritus Professor of Pharmaceutical Metabolism, is Head of Research for Salvestrol Natural Products Ltd., in Syston, Leicester, LE7 1GQ, UK. With a First Class Honours BSc degree in Biochemistry from London University, a PhD in Drug Metabolism from the University of Surrey, an international university career spanning thirty five years and over 200 published research articles to his name, Professor Burke is an expert on the metabolism, toxicity and interactions of drugs, environmental chemicals and natural compounds. His specialism is the Cytochrome P450 or CYP enzyme system, which he has researched in species as diverse as humans and citrus fruits. Cancer – its causation, detection, prevention and treatment - has formed a consistent thread throughout his research and teaching, which includes nearly twenty years on the science faculty of Aberdeen University medical school.

In the 1970’s Professor Burke invented a set of biochemical tests that are used worldwide in the biomonitoring of environmental pollution and by the pharmaceutical industry in drug discovery and development (the EROD Assays). In the 1990’s he and his research group discovered that cancer cells contain a unique enzyme, CYP1B1, which is now a worldwide focus of research into new methods of cancer detection, prevention and treatment

Professor Gerry Potter

Gerry Potter, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at DeMontfort Leicester School of Pharmacy. Gerry has been fascinated by chemistry ever since he was a small boy. He completed his first degree in Organic Chemistry at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He went on to do his Ph.D. at the Chester Beattie laboratories within the Institute of Cancer Research, which at that time was at the Royal Marsden hospital in London, and subsequently relocated to Sutton. Gerry was coached by, at that time, probably the top experts in cancer research.

After finishing his Ph.D., Gerry continued to work as a post-doctoral research scientist at the Institute before joining Professor Dan Burke at De Montfort University in Leicester.

Michael Wakeman

Michael trained as a pharmacist before joining Professor David Horrobin's team where much of the ground-breaking research on the role of essential fatty acids was performed in the 1980's alongside such icons in the field as Professor Hugh Sinclair.

Subsequently he was involved in the development of melatonin as a nutritional supplement in US and has worked as a consultant for a number of companies in this field.

Michael was one of the first graduates in the UK to receive an Masters in Nutritional Medicine from Surrey University. He regularly lectures around the world.