Peter McGuffin: psychiatrist and researcher who set out to find better ways of defining severe mental illness – GWC Mag

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.