About
Project Leaders
Dr. Gerry Wright
Director, Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University.
Gerry Wright is the Director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (since 2007). He is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, an Associate member in the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Pathology and Molecular Medicine.
Dr. Gerry Wright received his BSc in Biochemistry (1986) and his PhD in Chemistry (1990) from the University of Waterloo. He holds the Michael G. DeGroote Chair in Infection and Anti-Infective Research and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Antibiotic Biochemistry. From 2001-2007 Gerry served as Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster.
Dr. Robert E.W. Hancock
Director, Centre for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research (CMDR)
Dr. Hancock is a leading microbiologist in Canada and has researched and taught at the University of British Columbia for nearly 40 years.
The fundamental interest of Hancock and his laboratory is in designing new therapeutic strategies to treat infections in the light of increasing antibiotic resistance coupled with a dearth of new antibiotic discovery.
Marcel Behr
Founding Director, McGill International TB Centre.
Dr. Marcel Behr is Professor of Medicine at McGill University and was the Founding Director of the McGill International tuberculosis (TB) Centre. Based at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), he is Chief of Infectious Diseases and Associate Leader of the Program on Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health. His training included a BSc (Biochemistry) from the University of Toronto, an MD from Queen’s University, Residency training in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology at McGill, an MSc (Epidemiology) from McGill, and then post-doctoral studies in Molecular Epidemiology and Bacterial Genomics at Stanford University.
Donald Sheppard
Professor, Departments of Medicine; Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University.
Dr. Sheppard is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and directs the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4) at McGill University, in Montreal. He leads the Medical Mycology laboratory and practices clinical infectious diseases at the McGill University Health Centre. His primary clinical area of interest is human fungal disease, particularly invasive aspergillosis in the immunocompromised host.
Dr. Sheppard’s research interests focus on elucidating the mechanisms by which fungal and bacterial pathogens form biofilms, and the development of novel therapies that disrupt biofilms to enhance the activity of antimicrobial agents.