Professor Tumani Corrah, Unit Director and Chairman of MRC The Gambia’s Executive Management Board, has been awarded the title of CBE* in her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s honours list. The award is in recognition of Professor Corrah’s long and distinguished career as a consultant physician, researcher and leader.
Following the completion of his primary medical education in Russia from the school in St Petersburg named after the world renowned physiologist Pavlov, Tumani Corrah honed his clinical skills at University College Ibadan, Nigeria. In the late seventies he went to the UK, first to Edinburgh then to Wales, where he trained for his Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) as a chest physician in the Department of Medicine, Gwynedd General Hospital. In 1981, after obtaining his MRCP he was appointed consultant physician.

Tumani Corrah returned to The Gambia in 1982 as clinician at the MRC Hospital. His return to The Gambia was difficult, for the MRC Unit was barely out of the colonial phase of its history. To quote Tumani Corrah’s friend and mentor, MRC The Gambia’s Emeritus Scientist Professor Hilton Whittle ‘It says much for Tumani’s integrity and his commitment to his country that he was prepared to take a great cut in his salary and start another phase of his illustrious career. At times it took much counseling from me and Brian Greenwood, (then Director of MRC Laboratories The Gambia) to persuade him to stick it out in order to realize his full potential.’

In 1983, Tumani Corrah started his PhD on the immunology of TB under the auspices of Professor John Stanford and Professor Whittle. His work was ground breaking for he undertook one of the first trials of immunotherapy for this disease in Africa. From 1983–2002, while undertaking his PhD, Tumani strengthened clinical research at the MRC Unit. His major interests were TB and HIV and their interactions. He received a variety of grants and over this period established a strong publication record, which to date stands at 78 joint publications in peer-reviewed journals. He rose through the ranks to Research Clinician, Senior Clinician and Director of Clinical Services.
Honours followed – Fellowship of the West African College of Physicians, the award of his PhD, and Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (UK). In 2002 while President elect of the WACP, he was appointed Acting Director of the MRC Laboratories and in 2004, he was made Unit Director and Chairman of the Executive Management Board.

The list of Tumani Corrah’s contributions to medicine, tropical infectious disease research, management and politics is lengthy: Visiting Professor – Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Oxford; President – West African College of Physicians; Member of the MRC Scientific Coordinating Committee; Chair of the Gambia Government/MRC Ethics Committee; Vice President – African AIDS Research Network; member - WHO TB task force in Africa; International Advisor - Royal College of Physicians; Honorary Fellow – Association of Welsh Physicians; Joint Gold Medal Winner – International Medical Informatics Association; Member of the Scientific Advisory Board – Centre for HIV-AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI); member – European Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) Developing Countries Coordinating Committee.

During his tenure as President of the West African College of Physicians, Tumani Corrah made significant changes, including the establishment of a number of important international linkages. In recognition of his achievements during his presidency, he has been made the foundation Director of the WACP’s International Office.

Professor Corrah is married to Ena, an entrepreneur. He has three children: Marie is a chartered accountant and the mother of Professor Corrah’s first grand child; his son Tumena is a physician, currently working in Cambridge. Tumena is about to move to Oxford as a Wellcome PhD fellow. Daughter Nyansa is a trained barrister and works as a financial adviser, specializing in tax mitigation for high net-worth earners.

*The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4th June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are

Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE)
Knight Commander or Dame Commander (KBE or DBE)
Commander (CBE)
Officer (OBE)
Member (MBE)