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“More diverse, more beautiful, and more impactful than we ever dreamed.” For Distinguished Professor Sir Richard Faull, stepping aside is more about shifting focus than slowing down. A fter decades “chasing the mysteries of the brain,” Sir Richard, at 80, is transitioning to an ambassadorial role at the University of Auckland Centre Brain Research (CBR), having grown it into a world-leading hub of neuroscience. Under his leadership, the CBR has become one of the world’s leading centres for neuroscience research. It brings together more than 500 scientists, clinicians, and engineers who are making real progress toward new treatments for dementia and Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, stroke, motor neurone disease, brain cancer, and traumatic brain injury, to name a few. In his semi-retirement, Sir Richard plans to spend more time mentoring young scientists, visiting communities around Aotearoa, and watching the CBR continue to flourish under the leadership of renowned Dutch neuroscientist Professor Hanneke Hulst. “Over the past 15 years, the CBR has grown into something greater than I ever imagined. It has been my great privilege and honour to promote and facilitate this growth,” Sir Richard says. In fact, the CBR’s journey stretches back almost 45 years, to when a family generously donated the brain of their loved one who had died with Huntington’s disease. “The families planted the seeds of our human brain research not knowing what would grow, and the result has been extraordinary: more diverse, more beautiful, and more impactful than we ever dreamed. “Our ethos has been critical to this success. And it has been simple: pursue world class research and do what is right for the people of Aotearoa. If the work supports collaborative science and gives hope to people with brain disease, then we do it.” Humble beginnings Born in 1945 in rural Taranaki, the second of five sons to Wilfred and Phyllis Faull, Richard grew up in the family’s general store, at the heart of a close-knit community. “We knew everyone. Mum and Dad taught us we were put on this earth to help people.” At Tikorangi School and then Waitara High, he fell in love with science and earned a Taranaki Scholarship to university. Each summer he worked in the freezing works to pay his way through medical school at Otago, where in 1966 he discovered the two great loves of his life – his wife, Diana, and the human brain. “The first time I saw a brain, I thought, ‘That’s just incredible.’ I knew I’d found my calling.” It inspired Richard to take a year off from medical school to undertake research on the substantia nigra, which is implicated in Parkinson’s disease. His first scientific discovery was finding a new pathway from the substantia nigra to the thalamus. It was published in one of the top scientific journals of the day. Headlines 11 Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy and Sir Richard at his investiture in 2017