– is now closed –

3 May 2012

The sudden and unexpected death of my husband and friend Mark Colvin on 31 January 2012 at our home on the Bluff left an irreplaceable skills gap at Maromi Health Research (MHR). “People like Mark cannot be picked off a shelf” said his friend Cherie Cawood.

As founder and director of MHR he was the energy and thinking behind valuable epidemiological research in Southern Africa and the rest of the continent. In consultation with his staff, colleagues and friends I made the decision to close MHR on 31 March 2012. With the consent of Professor Salim S. Abdool Karim, Director: CAPRISA - Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, and Professor Alan Whiteside, Director: HEARD - Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division, Mark’s research notes and papers will be archived by HEARD. HEARD is situated at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Westville Campus, J block, Level 4. I am extremely grateful to Professor Salim S. Abdool Karim for his kind support during this sad and challenging time.

I wish to thank the staff at MHR – Juby Govender, Helen Ibbetson and  Tamlyn Seunanden - for their loyalty and dedication to Mark. I wish to thank his friend and business partner Cherie Cawood of Epicentre for her enduring passion for the work she and Mark engaged in over a decade.

Warren Parker and Kevin Kelly worked closely with Mark at CADRE for many years and became sound friends of Mark’s.  Prior to CADRE Mark worked at the Medical Research Council where he also had many friends. There is much more gratitude that requires expression. There are hundreds of people Mark interacted with over the years, from Cape Town to Juba in South Sudan, all of whom enriched his practice. To the hundreds who sent messages of condolence from all over the world, my son Luke, my daughter Liana and I have heard you and are grateful to you for your kind thoughts.

Finally may your endeavour to curtail the scourge of contagious and fatal diseases and all that they entail be successful.

Karen Colvin
(Durban, South Africa)