Dr Nora Volkow is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and was declared one of ’34 leaders who are changing healthcare’ by Fortune magazine. She was interviewed by Dr Sally Marlow in 2018 for the Women in Addiction project. Nora talks about growing up in a household where there was an obligation to improve the lives of others. She also discusses the impact of being raised by a father who wanted sons, and the importance of using your instincts and unique voice to advance science.