Simon became interested in Signal Transduction during his Biochemistry degree at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He did his PhD in Michael Wakelam鈥檚 laboratory at the University of Glasgow, studying signalling by Phospholipase-C and -D. A chance meeting over a beer at a conference led to his move in 1991 to post-doc with Frank McCormick at ONYX Pharmaceuticals in the San Francisco Bay Area where he studied the then emerging RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK1/2 pathway. After his post-doc Simon stayed on at ONYX as a Staff Scientist, member of the RAS Group Steering Committee and Project Manager for the Inflammation Project.
Simon joined the Institute as a tenure-track group leader in 1997 and held a CRUK Senior Cancer Research Fellowship from 2000-2006. From 2013-2021 he coordinated Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation activities within the Institute. Since September 2020, Simon has led the Institute鈥檚 Signalling research programme. In 2021 he was appointed Interim Director and then Institute Director in June 2022.
In the past he has served on BBSRC BCB and Worldwide Cancer Research grants committees and the scientific advisory boards of the Beatson Institute Drug Discovery Unit, the CRUK Therapeutic Discovery Labs and the Northern Institute for Cancer Research Drug Discovery Unit. He currently serves on the Scientific Sub-Committee of PhoreMost, a drug discovery SME based on the Babraham Research Campus.
His hobbies include bird-watching, walking, reading, music and cinema.