Alimuddin Zumla: infectious diseases guru and survivor

摘要

Two near-death experiences have made Alimuddin Zumla cherish every day of life. Zumla, now one of the world's most respected infectious and tropical diseases experts, and Professor of Infectious Diseases and International Health at University College London (UCL), often reflects on these experiences and second chances that fate has given him. The first, while working as a junior doctor in London in 1982, was a bout of crippling tuberculous meningitis. Doctors said he would never walk again, but Zumla overcame this prognosis. The second scare came in 2005; misdiagnosed as tuberculosis, the mysterious illness was eventually diagnosed as multisystem sarcoidosis from information collected by his wife Farzana from the textbook Granulomatous Disorders that Zumla himself had authored. As a teenager, Zumla declined the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study medicine at Oxford University, UK, and remained in his native Zambia to train as a doctor. His early career highlights included an award-winning PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as a Beit Scholar, and thwarting a major outbreak of Legionnaire's disease in central London while working as a registrar at Rush Green Hospital, Romford. In 1994 he joined UCL, where, in addition to his routine academic work and clinical ward rounds, he leads several overseas research and capacity development programmes.