I know nothing about animals and diseases, but I went to school as a child in Nigeria, taught in Burundi, and have just spent a few anxious days waiting for my son to return from Kenya and Nigeria, hopefully avoiding Ebola. Unlike Helen, I may not know the science, but I do know the importance of what she did. I have gouged jiggers out of my feet and spent a week in hospital with what was not (fortunately) bilharzia. I know what may happen to someone in a remote village who has been bitten by a rabid dog when the nearest treatment is two countries away.

What she did was really, really important. I knew Helen through archaeology, a dig on an outlying island in Orkney. She was fun. When your knees and back were hurting, when the midgies were biting, and with the prospect of a Force 9 gale – well, this was in an Orkney summer – you could rely on Helen to lighten the mood. Her story of a flight to the Faroes involving a small plane, a high waterfall and alcohol is a classic.

My condolences go to all her friends and colleagues who have lost someone very special.

Hamish Norbrook