John Skidmore is a chemist by training, receiving a BA and DPhil from the University of Oxford. Following his postdoctoral studies at the University of Liverpool, Skidmore joined GSK where he worked as a medicinal chemist and project leader in the pain and neurodegeneration therapeutic areas contributing to the discovery of a number of development candidates. In 2010, Skidmore moved to the University of Cambridge, where, funded through the Wellcome Trust’s Seeding Drug Discovery scheme, he led a series of protein-protein interaction inhibitor projects in the oncology therapeutic area working with Chris Abell, Tom Blundell, and others.  In 2015, Skidmore moved within the university to his present position as the chief scientific officer of the ALBORADA Drug Discovery Institute (ADDI), where he leads a group translating academic research into new treatments for the diseases that cause dementia.