Kim Suvarna: histopathologist who carried out Salisbury Novichok autopsy

Kim Suvarna, a histopathologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was renowned for his 25 year old tweed jacket, bought from the local Oxfam shop, and his mantra, “Give me the short version.” Verbiage made his eyes roll. He did not suffer fools gladly, but he was as kind as he was fierce. His wife, Grace Horne, describes him as a shy man who wore his profession like a superhero’s cape. “As a doctor, he had the confidence to do anything. He had no problem standing up and lecturing 500 people. He loved imparting information.” A quirky man, he wore two wrist watches simultaneously and disregarded capital letters in emails. Kirsty Lloyd, one of his former trainees, now a consultant histopathologist in Sheffield, says, “He was all about efficiency, so perhaps the shift key was more effort than necessary.” Suvarna had a gift for and a love of teaching, an encyclopaedic memory, a fearsome intellect, and, above all else, passion and enthusiasm. He wrote more than 125 peer reviewed papers and edited several books, including Bancroft’s Theory and Practice of Histological Techniques (2018). He was the driving force behind the UK Cardiovascular Pathology Network and a contributing author to consensus statements from the Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology (AECP), of which he …