Gavin Welsh graduated with a degree and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Bristol. After 4 further years at Bristol doing postdoctoral research he spent 2 years at the University of Kent at Canterbury before being awarded an EMBO Long Term fellowship to work for 2 years in the Virology and Cellular Immunology Unit at the Institute Pasteur, Paris, France. Gavin then moved back to the University of Bristol working for 6 years as a research fellow in the Department of Biochemistry. He is currently a Professor of Renal Cell Biology in Bristol Renal. His research interests centre on renal cell signaling and how this is altered in disease states especially in Nephrotic Syndrome and Diabetic Nephropathy.