Luis was a great advocate of learning, education and research. He felt that a good education was one of life's great privileges and that through education and research you could improve the life of not only one individual, but whole populations. Through his life's work, he has left a legacy of learning, world-leading research and education that we would like to celebrate and continue through LSTM.

During his career, Luis had a reputation for being generous with his time, with many of his students describing him as life-changing, inspirational and a brilliant mentor. He has left a huge legacy of people who were taught by him throughout the world to carry on the fight against infectious diseases and was also pivotal in developing rapid timely diagnostics and epidemiological work worldwide.

At the same time, he was a brilliant father, husband and grandpa and showed us every day, how his family were central to life. Luis was an exemplary academic, but also very humble, he would happily tell you about his projects without pomp or grandeur, yet what he did was nothing short of spectacular. We also remember having scholars from all over the world come have dinner with us and becoming life long friends and extended family.

His wife, Rachel, and children, Sofia, Natalia, Francesca and Miguel are launching this campaign in his memory. Luis wanted the money which would usually be spent on flowers to go to a more productive cause which reflected his life's work.