Ewan St. John Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge. He completed his undergraduate degree in Pharmacology at the University of Bath, including a year in industry working for Novartis in Switzerland. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, focusing on neuronal mechanisms of acid sensing, before moving on to the Max-Delbrueck Centre for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, Germany. His postdoctoral work was at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA. His research group in the Department of Pharmacology is focused on furthering our understanding of the molecular basis of pain, especially pain associated with arthritis and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, in an effort to try and identify new targets for pain killers.