It is with great sadness that we learned of the untimely death of Dr Amit Bhasin this week.
Amit spent much of his career at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and played a key role from 2002 onwards in establishing the Gates Malaria Partnership as an innovative research capacity development programme. He became its manager in 2006, and then of its successor, the Malaria Research Capacity Development Consortium, and other successful research consortia including MenAfriCar and the Fiebre project. These consortia involved multiple partners in Africa and Asia and much of their success was due to Amit. He was a brilliant administrator but, more importantly, hugely skilled in bringing people together effectively and to make working together fun. His ability to gain the trust and friendship of all categories of staff from director of a research centre to an entomology field worker was remarkable.
Amit joined the University of Cambridge in 2019 as Programme Manager of Cambridge-Africa, a University initiative to support African researchers and promote equitable partnerships between Africa and Cambridge. Amit brought his energy, enthusiasm and experience to his new position, quickly identifying areas for improvement and expanding both the strategic thinking underpinning Cambridge-Africa and the size of the network by connecting with his many friends and colleagues in Africa, and of course, making new friends across Cambridge.
Before joining LSHTM, Amit obtained a PhD in entomology at the University of Aberdeen. Subsequently, he held a post-doctoral fellowship at Hadassah University, Jerusalem, undertaking fieldwork in Mali where he developed his love of Africa. Amit was a keen sports fan, music lover and dedicated family man. He was enormously generous with his time and skills and always willing to support others.
Amit Bhasin made an impressive contribution to capacity development for African science and scientific management. We will seek opportunities to celebrate Amit’s memory in the near future. For now, our deep condolences go out to Amit’s family and to his friends around the world. Messages of condolence to Amit’s family can be sent to Caroline Trotter clt56@cam.ac.uk