- John Illman
- London, UK
- john{at}jicmedia.org
Photo credit: King’s College London
There was always something different about Peter McGuffin, professor of psychiatric genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience Centre, London (IOPPNC). In 1963, when many 15 year olds discovered the Beatles, he found psychoanalysis. After locating Freud’s introductory lectures in his local library on the Isle of Wight, he decided to become a psychiatrist.
Freud was long established, but psychiatric genetics was in its infancy. It was to fire McGuffin’s passionate, scientific curiosity; his uncompromising commitment to basic research; and his enduring conviction that it was the key to targeted and tailored treatments. In the unreceptive face of what was to come in the 1980s, he needed all the conviction he could muster.
McGuffin also stood out as a guitarist and composer. The Behaviour Genetics Association conference in London on 27 June 2024 will include the world premiere of his string quartet composition in its celebrations of his pioneering career.
Psychiatric genetics
His longstanding friend and colleague Michael Owen of Cardiff University said that McGuffin’s career had laid the foundations for the application of genomics to psychiatry. He added, “Peter showed the importance of trying to establish how genetic and non-genetic factors act together to predispose people to psychiatric …
