Gary Stephens is Professor of Pharmacology within the School of Pharmacy, University of Reading and Programme Director of the Pharmacology programme at Reading. His scientific expertise is in the pharmacology and physiology of ion channels and receptors. His work has a focus on models of disease, namely epilepsy, pain and ataxia. His work with cannabinoids has included many studies using plant-derived phytocannabinoids. He was part of a team awarded the Sir James Black Award for Contribution to Drug Discovery in 2019 and a Guardian University Award for Research Impact runner-up award in 2020 for work on cannabinoids. He is an experience pharmacologist and is a Senior Editor for the British Journal of Pharmacology and Editor-in- Chief for the Pharmacology section of Pharmaceuticals journal.