Martin Williams graduated with an Honours Degree in Theoretical Chemistry & Biochemistry from the University of Sydney in Australia. Subsequently, he obtained a Master of Science in Oenology and Viticulture (Winemaking) at the University of California, USA. After returning to Australia, he was a winemaker based in the Yarra Valley for 15 years, before selling the winery he co-founded to start a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at Monash University as a mature-age student in 2007. Currently, Martin is working as Research Fellow at Monash University, as a consultant in the wine industry and is one of the founders of the not-for-profit research association Psychedelic Research in Science & Medicine (PRISM).
How do you break the stereotypes in science?I am a late bloomer in PhD terms, starting my PhD at 42. I have continued to study and learn throughout my life between degrees so, undertaking the PhD was not an alien experience for me. However, I certainly respect other people's situations and concerns when it comes to late starts (i.e. financial and/or family situation).
I probably also break stereotypes by having retained my broad-ranging professional interests as my life journey has unfolded. Consequently, I am still involved in winemaking and I am bringing my skills and knowledge to bear in clinical research. In 2011, with some colleagues, we set up a not-for-profit called PRISM, with the objective to initiate an Australian contribution to psychedelic psychotherapy. There is a new recognition of psychedelics as useful adjuncts for mental health (e.g. anxiety and depression, eating disorders) and PRISM is contributing to the clinical research and the movement to destigmatise psychedelics. |
QUICK FIRE ROUNDIf you could have a coffee with anyone, who would it be and what is the one question you would ask them? Erwin Schrödinger - did he ever realise just how difficult (and painful) it is in practice to stuff a cat into a box? Hardest time in science The hardest time was when the funding ran out while I was doing my postdoctoral research. It was in those two years I started building a plane and I just stuck with it. I had a project, an objective and it kept me going, if not I would have probably left and gotten a job elsewhere. Greatest achievement My greatest achievement has not been done yet! |