Veronica O’Keane is a longstanding psychiatrist working in the public health services. She is a professor of psychiatry in Trinity College Dublin where she leads a research programme in depression. Her research starts with an examination of the patient’s subjective experiences and she translates from these experiences into pathology in brain and body systems. Another central theme in her work is how childhood adversity modifies these systems. She is also a public commentator, a mother of two and a passionate open sea swimmer. The Matter of Memory was published by Allen Lane in 2020.