Sornchai Looareesuwan

Abstract

Prominent malaria researcher, physician, and administrator. Born on March 26, 1949, in Kongkhaen, northeastern Thailand, he died in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 22, 2007, of metastatic hepatoma, aged 58 years. Any historian who wanted to understand the fight against malaria in the late 20th century could do much worse than read the published works of Sornchai Looareesuwan, a charismatic and prolific researcher whose 490 scientific articles closely mirror the struggle to develop effective treatments for this global scourge. Sornchai began his career in malaria research in 1979, when he joined the team of David Warrell, who had arrived in Bangkok to establish the Wellcome Mahidol University, Oxford Tropical Medicine Programme. “He was a very bright, very enthusiastic, and well trained young clinician”, remembers Warrell, now emeritus professor of tropical medicine at the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Between 1979 and 1986, Sornchai's indefatigable energy and resourcefulness were central to the success of the programme's ambitious goal of establishing randomised controlled trials in Thailand's provincial hospitals. Their early successes, which included helping elucidate the pathogenesis of severe, cerebral malaria, were followed by a long list of publications that evaluated malaria therapy, including the issues of malaria in pregnancy, and cerebral blood flow in infected patients. Warrell and Sornchai also shared an interest in venomous snakes, and their publications on snakebites in regional Thailand also helped clarify the species that most often envenomed human beings. On one occasion, Warrell remembers some local men bringing them a 9-foot long king cobra. “I said we didn't want it because it wasn't in very good shape and I didn't want people risking their lives for our project”, he recalls. “But that was a tactical error. They took offence and released this snake into the middle of town.” As Warrell recalls, Sornchai “went down to the town and located the snake and organised its capture. That impressed me enormously.” Sornchai had trained in Bangkok at the famous Siriraj Hospital Medical School and joined the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, at Mahidol University, in 1979, immediately after finishing his residency. Malaria was his primary research focus from that moment on. “He was an astonishing man. The magnitude of his work in the chemotherapy and chemoprophylaxis of malaria is incredible”, says Stephen Hoffman, founder of malaria vaccine firm Sanaria, who first met Sornchai in the 1980s. “He just went from one drug to another.” He was, for example, a pioneer investigator of the artemisinin derivatives, as well as of atovaquone-proguanil, a combination sold as Malarone—now the best-known antimalarial prophylactic drug for western travellers. His successful research career sprang from a combination of intelligence, dedication to his patients, and “the capacity to work from morning to night”, says Hoffman. “That's a pretty potent mixture.” During the 1990s, Sornchai took on an increasingly important administrative role at Mahidol University, which culminated in his being appointed dean of the faculty of tropical medicine in 1996. His strategy for coping with the challenges of leading a sometimes-fractious faculty involved arriving early and spending time each morning meditating, Hoffman remembers. No doubt the smile that was often on his face, and the laugh on his lips contributed to his successful management of the department. Sornchai held concurrent positions as Director of Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases Research Programme and Head of the Division of Clinical Care Research Unit in Tropical Diseases at Mahidol. He was the Secretary General, Coordinator, and Director of the SEAMEO Regional Tropical Medicine and Public Health Network and a past President of the International Federation for Tropical Medicine. His decorations in Thailand included Companion (Fourth Class) of the Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn and Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant. An honorary Fellow of the UK's Royal College of Physicians, Sornchai was a valued member of the editorial boards of this journal and The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Sornchai is survived by his wife, Vaewta Sornchai, and their children Panita and Panu.