Graeme Wilkinson has a background in applied mechanistic pharmacology particularly the molecular pharmacology of G protein coupled receptors, which he studied extensively during his PhD at the department of cell physiology and pharmacology, University of Leicester, and postdoc at the Glaxo Institute of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge. Graeme joined the pharmaceutical industry with Astra at their Charnwood site in Loughborough as a project pharmacologist and soon after the formation of AstraZeneca moved to the Alderley Park site to lead a capability in membrane protein biology and mechanism of action studies, applied to projects across all disease areas. He subsequently moved into global roles leading compound reprofiling and clinical drug repositioning and open innovation activities, which resulted in new pre-clinical projects and clinical candidates as well as the AstraZeneca-MRC compound sharing initiative. Between 2014 and 2017 Graeme has worked independently to develop a portfolio of drug discovery projects through the principles of open innovation and virtual working as well as acting as R&D director for start-up companies in the urology and auditory fields. Graeme is now Head of Virtual R&D at the Medicines Discovery Catapult with responsibility for delivering externalised drug discovery enabling advice, services and project management to UK life science SMEs.