Dr Shaun Russell - Chief Patron of Vass Medical Foundation
Dr Shaun Russell was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire in England. He studied Biology at Reading University and Plymouth Polytechnic, where he met his wife Lin in 1972. They emigrated to South Africa together in 1975, where they lectured at Fort Hare and Rhodes Universities for 15 years. They travelled the world together, visiting over 40 different countries before settling for a further two years in Namibia.
In 1981, Shaun spent a year in the Antarctic carrying out research for his doctorate. Shaun and Lin had two daughters, Josie and Megan, and it was during a trans-African ‘safari' in 1989 that two year old Josie was diagnosed with Malaria by a doctor in Northern Namibia. After an epic 800 mile non stop drive to hospital, Josie was found to have been mis-diagnosed, but the experience sensitised the distraught parents to the perils of Malaria.
The family returned to settle in the UK in 1991, where Shaun has since worked for the British Antarctic Survey, the British Council and Universities of Kent and Wales. Tragically, in July 1996, Lin and the two girls were attacked by a hammer-wielding assailant while walking home from school through the cornfields of Kent. Lin and Megan died, but Josie survived the attack and, despite brain damage, was able to assist police in their search for the killer. Shaun gave up his full-time university position in order to assist his daughter's recovery. He now works part-time as an environmental consultant from their home in a remote cottage in North Wales. He has assisted several charities with fund raising work since the time of his family tragedy, but on hearing of the work of the Vass Foundation he agreed to become a patron. He is today the Chief Patron and voice of the organization in the international community, where awareness desperately needs to be raised concerning the devastation and havoc that Malaria wreaks upon the poorest people of the tropical world.
He says: “I am committed to help the Vass Foundation because my late wife and I lived for many years in Africa and we saw at first hand the terrible suffering that Malaria causes. I have decided to devote my energies to promoting the Vass Foundation's work to combat Malaria in Africa, as I believe it will give life and hope to thousands of children on the continent that gave birth to and nurtured my own daughter."
E-mail: shaun@vassfoundation.org