A great loss to the public health community. I was so shocked and saddened to hear of Deborah's passing. I first met Deborah when I was a trainee in Public Health. She was a few years ahead of me in the training programme and we used to meet at training days. I had further contact with her when I used to do duty days at the NECL HPT as a Registrar and she was a consultant. I was not surprised when she became the Deputy Director Health Protection for London as she had already demonstrated her skill and experience as a leader. Since I moved to the East Midlands in 2006 I have been lucky enough to continue to meet Deborah in various forums of shared interests - HPZone , the Flu leads group and the HPT VPD leads network. She was, as many others have noted, very experienced, pragmatic, calm in the face of a crisis, and very warm and personable. She will be greatly missed and my thoughts and condolences go out to her family and friends and many colleagues in London. Adieu Deborah. It was a pleasure and privilege to have known you.