Dr Cecil Helman was born in Cape Town, South Africa, into a family of doctors. He studied medicine there during the apartheid era before moving to the UK where he studied anthropology at University College, London. After a spell as a ship's doctor, he became a family practitioner in London while also developing a distinguished academic career. He was a Visiting Fellow in Social Medicine and Health Policy at Harvard Medical School and a Visiting Professor in the Multi-cultural Health Programme at the University of New South Wales. He retired from clinical practice in 2002 and latterly was Professor of Medical Anthropology at Brunel University and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Primary Care & Population Sciences, Royal Free & University College Medical School, London, UK. His leading textbook, Culture, Health & Illness, has been used in 42 countries. Suburban Shaman is the story of his experiences. It was serialised in 2006 by BBC Radio 4 as Book of the Week and won the Royal College of General Practitioner's Abercrombie medal 'for an outstanding contribution to the literature of general practice.' He died on 15 June 2009 from motor neuron disease, aged 65.