The Canada Gairdner Wightman Award is annually awarded by the Gairdner Foundation to a Canadian who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the field of medicine and medical science.
Stanley Alan Plotkin is an American physician who works as a consultant to vaccine manufacturers, such as Sanofi Pasteur, as well as biotechnology firms, non-profits and governments. In the 1960s, he played a pivotal role in discovery of a vaccine against rubella virus while working at Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. Plotkin was a member of Wistar’s active research faculty from 1960 to 1991. Today, in addition to his emeritus appointment at Wistar, he is emeritus professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. His book, Vaccines, is the standard reference on the subject. He is an editor with Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, which is published by the American Society for Microbiology in Washington, D.C.
The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization – International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) is a research organization of the University of Saskatchewan that operates with financial support from the Government of Canada, the government of Saskatchewan, livestock industry councils and agencies, foundations and human and animal health companies. In addition to the 2,500,000 sq ft (230,000 m2) facility on campus, VIDO-InterVac also operates a 160-acre (0.6 km2) research station.
Jaap Goudsmit is Dutch scientist, known for his research in the field of AIDS and influenza. He shifted his research interest to aging and neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's Disease. He is also a prolific writer of non-fiction books: Viral Sex, the Nature of AIDS (1997); Viral Fitness, the Next SARS and West Nile in the Making (2004); Serendipity Manual (2012); The Vaccine Bug, a personal history of the World of Immunity (2013); Immorbidity Alphabet, Spelling-out a life free of dis-ease (2015); The Time of your Life, Staying healthy to the End (2016) and The Art of Facing Mortality, a scientist's view (2016).
Anthony (Tony) Charles Minson, PhD, FMedSci is a British virologist known for his work on the biology of herpesviruses, and a university administrator. He was the Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 2003 to 2009. He is emeritus professor of virology at the university's Department of Pathology and an emeritus fellow of Wolfson College.
Ann M. Arvin is an American pediatrician and microbiologist. She is the Lucile Salter Packard Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Microbiology & Immunology Emerita at Stanford University. Arvin is a specialist of the Varicella zoster virus (VZV) and a prominent national figure in health. Arvin is currently the chief of the infectious diseases division of pediatrics at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, as well as the former Stanford's Vice Provost and Dean of Research.
Allan R. Ronald is a Canadian doctor and microbiologist. He has been instrumental in the investigation into sexually transmitted infections in Africa, particularly in the fields of HIV/AIDS. Ronald is the recipient of multiple awards and honours.
Pasteur Institute of Iran is a medical research center located in Tehran, Iran. The institute is one of the oldest leading research and public health centers in Iran and the Middle East, established in 1920 following an agreement between the Institute Pasteur of Paris and the Iranian government. The Pasteur Institute of Iran was developed with the help of a land donation from Abdol-Hossein Farmanfarma. Its mission is to support advanced research and to provide innovative programs in basic and applied medical sciences, and production of biopharmaceuticals and diagnostic kits with special emphasis on infectious diseases. It meets the specialized and scientific health demands of the local community and tries to establish a link between applied research and industry. Pasteur Institute is a leading regional facility in the development and manufacture of vaccines. The institute has a total staff of 1300 in its 28 departments and 5 branches in different cities of Iran, which are active in different areas of medical and pharmaceutical biotechnology. There are about 300 PhDs and M.Sc. graduates.
David Lorne John Tyrrell is a Canadian physician.
Daria Nina Love was an Australian veterinary microbiologist and educator. She was the first woman to be awarded the University of Sydney Medal for Veterinary Science and the first woman in the Faculty of Veterinary Science to be awarded a PhD (1973), for her thesis entitled ‘Studies on virus host-cell relationships of a feline calicivirus’. She was also the first woman to become an associate professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, although her bids to become a full professor were unsuccessful. In 1988, she became the first woman in Australia to be awarded a Doctor of Veterinary Science on the basis of her work on the “Biological Properties of some Microorganisms of Veterinary Importance”. Love was renowned for the advances made through her research in the areas of soft tissue infections, oral cavity disease and feline and equine respiratory infections. She received a Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) award for her outstanding contributions to equine research and the Australian Horse Industry in 2001.
Anna-Lise WilliamsonMASSAf is a Professor of Virology at the University of Cape Town. Williamson obtained her PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1985. Her area of expertise is human papillomavirus, but is also known on an international level for her work in developing vaccines for HIV. These vaccines have been introduce in phase 1 of clinical trial. Williamson has published more than 120 papers.
Francis Allan Plummer was a Canadian scientist, academic and HIV/AIDS researcher. He was "a recognized specialist in infectious diseases whose work influenced public health policy in Canada and abroad". He was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba and Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory.
Guan Yi is a Chinese virologist. In 2014, he was ranked as 11th in the world by Thomson Reuters among global researchers in the field of microbiology. He obtained his PhD in microbiology at the University of Hong Kong and is now a professor of microbiology at his alma mater. His research on the viral respiratory disease SARS helped the Chinese government avert the 2004 outbreak of this disease. He is the current director of the State Key Laboratory for Emerging Infectious Diseases University of Hong Kong. In early 2017, Guan warned that the H7N9 influenza virus "poses the greatest threat to humanity than any other in the past 100 years".
Dr. Manmohan Parida, Sc ‘G’ assumed the charge of Director DRDE, Gwalior with effect from 01st October, 2021. He obtained his graduation in Veterinary Science from Odisha Veterinary College as best graduate with three Gold Medals into his credit. He earned his Masters in Veterinary Virology from prestigious Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar and further obtained his Doctorate Jiwaji University, Gwalior in Microbiology. He was also awarded with Monbusho Fellowship from Japanese Govt and pursued Post Doctoral Research Scientist at Institute of Tropical Medicine, WHO reference center for research on arboviruses, Nagasaki, Japan.
Noni E. MacDonald is a Canadian physician. She is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University. In 2019, MacDonald was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia and Order of Canada.
David Lee Suarez, DVM, PhD, ACVM is a virologist and immunologist.
Vanessa M. Hirsch is a Canadian-American veterinary pathologist and scientist. She is a senior investigator and chief of the nonhuman primate virology section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Hirsch researches AIDS pathogenesis, the evolution and origins of primate lentiviruses, and HIV vaccine development.
Scott Halperin is a Canadian immunologist, professor of pediatrics, microbiology, and immunology at Dalhousie University, the head of Pediatric Infection Diseases at IWK Health Centre, and the director of the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology.
Xiang-Jin Meng, also known as X.J. Meng, is a Chinese-born American virologist. He is a university distinguished professor at Virginia Tech. He studies emerging, re-emerging and zoonotic viruses of veterinary and human public health significance. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2016, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2014, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2012.
Shabir Ahmed Madhi is a South African physician who is professor of vaccinology and director of the South African Medical Research Council Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, and National Research Foundation/Department of Science and Technology Research Chair in Vaccine Preventable Diseases. In January 2021, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwateratand.
