For over 40 years, Dr Geoff Butcher has devoted his life to combatting malaria. Witnessing the suffering the disease causes while working as a teacher in Lagos inspired Dr Butcher to change his career in order to work on developing a vaccine. He has recently published a book entitled Memoirs of a Feeble Cabbage which details his life in malaria research and other adventures. Upper Sixth pupils Venkat and Scarlett asked Dr Butcher some questions about his life and career.

Geoff attained A levels in Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology at Emanuel and went on to study Zoology at King’s College London. He was asked by Professor Jim Danielli, Head of Department, to join him at Buffalo University in New York to do a PhD. This was quite an honour as Jim was a Fellow of the Royal Society, who had discovered the bimolecular lipid structure of cell membranes (which he explained in tutorials simply using coloured chalks!). Professor Danielli’s work in the States concerned preventing cancer using mustard gas. However, it was the time of the Vietnam War and when Geoff filled in the visa paperwork, he found that if he went to the States he may be asked to fight.

Geoff decided to study a PGCE course at Bristol University. During the year, he heard from a friend in Nigeria about a vacancy for a Biology teacher in the Lagos Anglican Grammar School. Despite knowing nothing of Africa and never having been abroad before, Geoff took up the post and had a wonderful two years there. However, it was clear that there were many medical issues in the country, with malaria being the most serious. The mortality rate in young children from malaria was high.

Of course, children in this country 200 years ago would have had a similar mortality rate because of the infections to which they were exposed. Children born to mothers who had become immune to malaria would have some protection in the first few months of life because of their mother’s antibodies. Protection would also come from many of the modified genes such as the sickle-cell gene and what is known as G6PD deficiency. This enzyme, present in the red cells, protects them from oxidative damage but at low levels protects the carrier from malaria (and can cause problems if you eat broad beans!). There are many other protective genes but that is a very complicated story which I will not go into now.

On his return to the UK, Geoff applied for a role advertised in The Observer for a research assistant to help develop a vaccine against malaria, in a combined project between Professor Sydney Cohen at Guys Hospital and Professor PC Garnham at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Geoff was fortunate to obtain the position and started work over 57 years ago in October 1965.

“I worked with several different groups to make the vaccine. In addition, I tested new compounds with potential as antimalarial drugs, determined some of the factors affecting the transmission of malaria by mosquitoes and worked on the conditions for growing malarial parasites in culture, particularly the blood stages.

I also wrote a small paperback entitled The intelligent Traveller’s Guide to Malaria to help anthropology students at the Australian National University who went and lived with tribal people in the Pacific Islands or Indonesia, the Phillipines, or Malaysia and contracted malaria despite taking appropriate anti-malarial medication.

The deputy head of Emanuel, Captain Hipkins, suggested that Geoff was a ‘feeble cabbage’ when he discovered that he had not joined the Cadet Force in the third year. ‘It seemed to be a suitable title for my book and I never joined a cadet force as National Service was no longer compulsory and I wanted to get on with my homework.’

Any proceeds from the sale of Dr Butcher’s new book will go to the work of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine in teaching and research.

Butcher G.A. 2002 Memoirs of a Feeble Cabbage, A Life in Malaria Research and Other Adventures published by Dandelion Digital ISBN paperback 9781908706430978M9087.

Available from Amazon at £12.99.