On behalf of us all at the Food Standards Agency, I wanted to say how saddened we were to hear of Helen’s passing. So often she was the point of contact for us on all matters relating to animal health and her expertise and collaboration will be greatly missed. From a personal note, I have worked with Helen on numerous biosecurity related projects over the last 3-4 years from GAP-DC2, PATH-SAFE, NBN and Exercise Pegasus. Her depth of knowledge and commitment to the cause never failed to impress. She is a huge loss to the government science community and indeed, well beyond. Sincerest condolences to her family, friends and colleagues.