Dr Varun Venkatesh is a research scientist from New Zealand who moved to Melbourne in 2019 to work at the Department of Medicine at Austin Health researching cell signalling in human diseases. In his professional life Varun loves researching science as well as teaching and mentoring future scientists. Outside of work, Varun's love of acquiring new hobbies borders on pathological, with a wide range interests ranging from the extremes of rock climbing, mountain biking, and trail running to the more mellow, such as wood working, video gaming, and procuring too many houseplants (allegedly). Varun deeply believes in the constant growth and refinement of oneself through new challenges, conversations with new people, and imbibing new media which ultimately allows us to become more well rounded, knowledgeable, empathetic and kind human beings.