DAILY MAIL: Death of HPV vaccine pioneer D.Anne SZAREWSKI

Scientist who pioneered cervical cancer vaccine found dead by husband at home after he warned she was working too hard By Paul Bentley and Sara Smyth PUBLISHED: 19:35 GMT, 8 December 2013 | UPDATED: 01:51 GMT, 9 December 2013 The scientist who pioneered the cervical cancer vaccine was found dead by her husband at their £2million home after he warned she was ‘heading for a crisis’ by working too hard. In August he found her dead in their four-bedroom home in West Hampstead, North London, after he spent two hours drilling through a door she had locked from the inside. She was found with high levels of an anti-malarial drug in her bloodstream, but doctors said this was not thought to have caused her death. Dr Szarewski, who used her maiden name, was preparing for five international work trips and had been complaining that she was experiencing all-over body pains with ‘mounting intensity’. University lecturer: Dr Anne Szarewski's discovery has saved thousands of lives Mr Venter,(husband) 63, told the inquest into her death at St Pancras Coroner’s Court: ‘I was in the habit of telling her that she was heading for a crisis. I just realised she couldn’t maintain the pace that she was setting for herself.’ Dr Szarewski is credited with discovering the link between the human papillomavirus and cervical cancer, leading to a vaccine for HPV – the first-ever vaccine against any form of cancer – which is now routinely given to girls across the country. Born in London to Polish parents, she studied medicine at Middlesex Hospital before working at the Whittington Hospital in Highgate, North London. Latterly she worked as a gynaecologist at the Margaret Pike Centre in King’s Cross, was a clinical lecturer at the Wolfson Institute, Queen Mary, University of London, and also worked for Cancer Research. Her husband of ten years, a former political journalist from South Africa, told the court the couple slept in separate bedrooms because they enjoyed their own space. Mr Venter said that he woke up on August 24 after a night at the theatre and when his wife did not come down for breakfast he was initially pleased that she was having a well-deserved lie-in. When she still had not emerged at 2pm, however, he became concerned and found her bedroom door was locked. After two hours trying to open it with an electric drill, he forced his way inside. ‘As I entered the room I saw her on the bed and I realised straight away that she was dead,’ he said. The couple’s home contained two-and-a-half cupboards of medication, a collection Mr Venter described as one of his wife’s ‘charming eccentricities’. A pathologist’s report read out to the inquest found the scientist died from PANCREATITIS The anti-malaria drug Chloroquine was discovered in her blood. It is known to be highly toxic in overdose quantities. A packet was later found in the house but this is not thought to have been the cause of death and the coroner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2520360/Scientist-Anne-Szarewski-pioneered-cervical-cancer-vaccine-dead-husband-home.html#ixzz2mwLSq4XP Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook