I look back on many parts of my career and none rises to the top of the pride avenue for me more than the way that I responded to the benching in the 2015 Women’s World Cup.

Professionally, becoming a relative success in a job that I love; and personally, helping to raise two wonderful children.

My dog’s trust in me.

Learning to surf - a 6ft frame is a real hindrance for the sport.

The world ‘ageing’ itself is an issue: we do not know what it means.

I never listened to any noise around me. I listened only to my gut feeling and did what I should have

I abandoned surgery, I abandoned medicine. The only person I consulted was my wife when I said ‘Listen, next month, we’re not going to have a salary. On the contrary, we’re going to take all our savings and waste it on tuition fees.’ That’s it. That’s what I wanted.

Diversifying means going abroad…Be in another culture, speak a different language, see how other people think. Leave and then come back.

I think that it is necessary to implant in children the love for science from the very beginning, and mostly the love for asking questions about the universe, for example why does the sun rise in the morning? Or what allows life on earth? Why earth is so unique compared to the moon? Or about our own body and evolution: what happened to us?

Science for me is a language of peace and the only one I know which is absolutely international. I can talk to a UK scientist or any scientist worldwide about my research and they understand exactly what I am talking about. We may even find an area of mutual interest to collaborate on and together we can make an even greater impact on the world around us.