On behalf of the Executive Management Board of MRC (UK) The Gambia, I regret to inform you that Sam Dunyo passed away during the early hours of Thursday 1st May 2008 at the MRC ward, Fajara, following a long illness. Dr Samuel Kwaku DunyoSam joined MRC The Gambia in 2000 as a research epidemiologist with the Malaria Programme in Farafenni; in 2004, he became the Head of the Farafenni Field Site.

A graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology in Ghana, Sam also studied for an MSc in epidemiology and public health in Israel; later he obtained his PhD at the Danish Bilharzis Laboratory in Copenhagen.

Prior to joining the MRC, Sam worked with Ghana’s Ministry of Health as a District Medical Officer. In 1991, he was seconded to Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research at the University of Ghana, Legon to work on the epidemiology of malaria. In 1994, he initiated a lymphatic filariasis research project at the Noguchi Institute.

Sam was a key figure in several clinical trials of safety and efficacy of new anti-malarial drugs and also conducted research into the evaluation of the effectiveness of new anti-malarial drug combinations and combinations of existing drugs and their impact on transmission.

I wish to join all of Sam’s friends and colleagues at the MRC and throughout the world in offering our deepest sympathy to Sam’s family. He is survived by his wife Roseline and their four sons Shlomo (18), Isaac (15), Joshua (10) and Emmanuel (7).

Sam will return to Ghana in the coming days; the date of his interment will be communicated as soon as it is known.

May his soul rest in perfect peace.