A pioneer of tropical medicine worldwide: Andrew Balfour of Khartoum

摘要

This is an archival account of the career of Sir Andrew Balfour in Khartoum, Sudan during the period 1902 to 1913. As the first director of the Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories in Khartoum during the period, Andrew Balfour was tasked with establishing the laboratories and at the same time he was engaged in founding the health services in Khartoum. Balfour worked in close collaboration and support from Henry Wellcome and Reginald Wingate, the Governor General of the Sudan. The energetic and meticulous sanitary work of Balfour had a remarkable impact, with Khartoum declared mosquito-free by 1910. Establishing a research base in the laboratories was met with many challenges but eventually Balfour managed to recruit a team of dedicated researchers and to produce well-circulated publications in tropical medicine. Balfour’s work in Khartoum later lead him to a distinguished career in tropical medicine. In 1923 he was appointed the first Director of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was also elected President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1925–27). Sir Andrew Balfour, KCMG, CB, LL D (1873–1931)