Alan Harvey CVID Research Endowment

This Endowment was established by the Harvey family in memory of Alan (Al) Harvey who graduated from ANU with a Bachelor of Forestry (Hons) in 1973. His career spanned 37 years with Queensland Forestry, retiring as General Manager of Operations in 2006. Alan was a consummate professional, his contributions to forestry are vast and his involvement in the development of the world's most advanced plantation yield simulation system (ply sim) was an outstanding achievement.

Alan contracted Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID) in the early 1980's, which was successfully treated for 10 years until he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Unfortunately, this resulted in a steady physical decline, culminating in his passing in 2009.

As a memorial to Alan's example of courage, strength, perseverance and achievement, his family, friends and colleagues established this Endowment to support CVID research to better understand this disease, and to develop prevention techniques and treatments.

The Alan Harvey CVID Research Endowment will support genome sequencing, providing a foundation for further research on CVID causing genes. The Endowment will enable researchers to take advantage of state of the art sequencing technology to sequence several CVID genomes. Once completed, this will be an international landmark for CVID research that should result in significant advances in our understanding of this debilitating disease, and other immune-mediated diseases, including Lupus, Diabetes 1 and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Read Professor Matthew Cook's story on how the Alan Harvey CVID Research Endowment is making a difference to research into the human immune system and related diseases.