Old Boy Anthony “Sol” Solomon (1990) is an infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist. As a Medical Officer in the Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases Department at the World Health Organization (WHO), his main research and public health interest has been the control and elimination of the blinding eye condition trachoma.

“I was at Churchie from 1985 to 1990. After school, I did medicine at the University of Queensland and then completed two years as a resident medical officer within Queensland Health. I was privileged during those years to have an opportunity to work and learn in very varied settings, including an attachment to the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Mt Isa, time in Weipa and country relieving in Nanango. I did my 1995 medical student elective at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya – at least two patients in every bed, with every conceivable limitation to provision of care – and decided during that stretch that I wanted to return to East Africa to work once I actually had something to offer.

In early 1999 I went to London to complete the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). After the course, LSHTM offered me a job as a research fellow, working on trachoma in northern Ghana, which I accepted enthusiastically: it was a chance to work with great people on an important project in a fascinating country. It went well, and led to another posting, to Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania, where over three years I established and directed a field station undertaking studies on trachoma elimination. That allowed me to complete a PhD at the University of London.

In all I spent 14 years working full- or part-time for LSHTM, based in Africa and London. In parallel, I undertook specialist infectious diseases training in London and became a consultant physician at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases. Then in 2014, the job overseeing global trachoma elimination came up, and I was appointed to the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases at WHO, based in Geneva. So far, I’ve worked with the health ministries of 26 countries to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem and receive validation by WHO of that achievement. In late 2025 I was also made responsible for the eradication of Guinea worm and yaws – two of the three human diseases currently targeted for complete interruption of transmission worldwide – so I’m unlikely to be bored over the next few years.

Along the way I’ve continued my passion for sport, and have been fortunate to play rugby for Tanzania, ultimate frisbee for Australia and the UK, and cricket at Lord’s for the Royal College of Physicians against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).”

Sol in Tanzania – photos credited to RTI International