What did you learn from the talk by Dr. Walker and Dr. Burton?

                                                                                                                                                            “You can actually be a scientist and live in nice places like La Jolla, California

I knew I shouldn’t have dropped maths! Well, I still have Biology. One day I might end up in St Petersburg, Florida.

But let me not diminish the impact Dr Walker and Dr Burton had on me last Tuesday.

I first met with them, along with Sir Griekspoor over lunch. They both seemed very interested in how ALA was different from other schools, and how well we dealt with the high expectations of being here (Kenyan coffee! Just kidding!). We also got to talk about the image/brand Africa had for the rest of the world.

A few minutes later, I could not imagine that I had just had dinner with the people in charge of leading biomedical research institutes in terms of finding an HIV vaccine.

Dr Burton was the first to talk. He leads the initiative to find a vaccine for HIV. He gave us a very entertaining account of his background. What particularly stroke me in his story was his determination to challenge himself.  Although he knew what he was deeply interested in, he also studied physics and studied in Swedish. Being ready to challenge oneself is one difference between good and great leaders. 

His work on finding an HIV vaccine gave the audience a lot of hope.  Knowing that there is a whole program dedicated to helping millions of people suffering from HIV had a sort of relieving effect. The truth is that many infected Africans don’t have regular access ARV’s. Patients end up dying of opportunistic infections, or develop drug resistance that can as well kill them.

Dr Walker, head of the Ragon Institute that focuses on mechanisms of immune control in HIV infection, gave an equally ‘blow minding’ talk. In fact, he is in charge of the first biomedical research institute on HIV on the continent. He talked about the story of the institute and how much of the work being done there was as a result of philanthropic donations. He also talked about how far research about a vaccine for HIV has gone, and what are the limitations to it. One that he mentioned was the need for involvement from different expertise to enrich the research.

One thing I extremely liked was their belief in Africa’s potential. They are currently working to see the world’s biggest biomedical research center that will focus on HIV and other infectious diseases.