It is with great sadness that we share the news that Margie passed away in January 2026. Her vibrant and wide-reaching legacy continues, not least in the work to which she dedicated much of her life: on how to prevent unintentional injuries, particularly in resource-strapped countries.

While road injuries were the biggest issue, Margie's work also canvased other significant problems of drowning, burns and falls, and identified interventions that could save lives. Her research looked at what works, specifically in developing countries. It provided evidence on how to prevent injuries before they happen. But it also looked at the post-crash phase, working with nurses – who are the mainstay of healthcare provision in developing countries – to provide optimum treatment management. In some developing countries, traumatic injuries account for up to 70%-80% of the caseloads in emergency rooms. If you can stop these injuries upstream, there are enormous gains for healthcare systems, both financially and in terms of workforce needs.

Representing The George Institute for Global Health and South Africa, Margie was a member of the Commonwealth Road Safety Initiative Expert Panel and together with colleagues from Kenya and Canada led the data analysis for the reports being developed ahead of the 3rd Ministerial level meeting in Sweden in February 2020 and the CHOG meeting in Rwanda. She was also a member of the Academic Expert Group for this Ministerial meeting, a group responsible for making an independent and scientific assessment of the progress made during the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The Academic Expert Group will also recommend a road safety strategy for the period 2020-2030. Margie was also Chair of the Global Advisory Board for the Malawi Road Safety Research and Implementation Unit at the University of Malawi.

Professor Neal is a UK-trained physician who has 25 years’ experience in clinical, epidemiological, and public health research with a focus on heart disease, stroke and diabetes. 

He has a longstanding interest in high blood pressure and diabetes and the potential for both clinical interventions and changes in the food supply to deliver health gains.  His work has been characterised by its focus on collaboration, quantitation, translation and impact.  

He holds professorial appointments at UNSW Sydney, Imperial College London, and an honorary appointment at the University of Sydney.  He has published some 450 scientific papers and since 2016 has been identified by Thomson Reuters as one of ‘The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds’ - an acknowledgement bestowed on just a few thousand researchers across all disciplines worldwide.  

He has deep expertise in the conduct of large-scale clinical trials addressing cardiovascular disease but has also done a significant body of work addressing food policy issues related to sugars, fats, portion size and food labelling.