Robert Arthur Wall was born in 1948 in Romford, Essex. He studied medicine at Brentwood School and subsequently at a London hospital, where he obtained his medical qualification. He worked in hospitals in Colchester and Rochford. In 1974, he went to Zambia with his wife Maurine, where he worked as a chief physician and became interested in microbiology, especially meningococcal diseases. After returning to Great Britain, he completed his master's degree in microbiology. In 1982 he returned to Africa, this time to The Gambia, where he studied epidemics of meningococcal septicemia with the Medical Research Council. The stay in Gambia lasted 18 months. After his return, he became a consultant microbiologist[1].