St Albans man awarded Queen’s Ebola medal

Pioneering work which significantly slashed the turnaround time from blood tests to diagnosis of Ebola in Sierra Leone has won a St Albans scientist a prestigious medal.

David Anti, a 45-year-old biomedical scientist, volunteered to help test blood samples for Ebola and was part of a team who cut the turnaround time from five days to 24 hours, allowing for quicker diagnosis, treatment and isolation of sufferers.

He was recently awarded the Queen’s Ebola medal, which recognises individuals supporting efforts to eradicate Ebola in West Africa.

David works in the infection and immunity department of Imperial College London and volunteered in Ebola Treatment Centres across Sierra Leone for five weeks last year.

He also travelled to remote locations across the country to train and educate local health care professionals on the technique used to help diagnose Ebola.

Together with six other colleagues, David was presented with his medal by Imperial College NHS Trust chief executive Tracey Batten.

He said: “I am grateful to my dear wife, Francesca, and three children Desiree, Esther and Samuel, who allowed me to be away for five weeks. My time in Sierra Leone was hard work in very hot and challenging conditions.

“Nevertheless, I found the whole experience very fulfilling and I am please to have been able to play a part in overcoming such a deadly disease. It is a real honour to have been recognised in this way.”

Tracey Batten said: “I am proud of the role our staff played in tackling Ebola in Sierra Leone, Using their NHS experience, they selflessly took on a potentially life threatening challenge to help those in great need, an ultimately help to defeat the spread of Ebola.”