Mac researcher to lead fight against infectious diseases

A McMaster medical expert will soon head up an institute tasked with leading the direction of research in Canada to fight infectious diseases.

Dr. Charu Kaushic’s directorship also marks the first time a Canadian Institutes of Health Research institute will be headquartered at the university.

“These institutes are based in locations that are showing research excellence,” she said Thursday, calling the appointment “validation” for McMaster.

On July 1, Kaushic takes the helm of the CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunology (III) for an initial four-year term. The III is finishing its time at Laval in Quebec.

The CIHR is a federal government agency that supports medical research to the tune of about $1 billion a year.

There are 13 institutes that focus on fields including aging, cancer, genetics and public health.

As director of III, Kaushic said she will work with researchers across Canada to determine priorities and make sure there’s enough funding. She will also carry on her own research.

Roderick McInnes, acting CIHR president, said in a news release that Kaushic will help “tackle some of the most pressing health issues of the day, including HIV, antimicrobial resistance and vector-borne diseases.”

It takes years before breakthroughs such as vaccines are realized, Kaushic said.

McMaster researchers are working to manufacture a vaccine against Ebola, a deadly virus that has hit West African countries hard.

Canada has a responsibility to research such viruses, which have no borders, Kaushic said. “It’s short-sighted for us to say this is happening somewhere else.”

Kaushic is a professor of pathology and molecular medicine. A mucosal immunologist, the Burlington resident’s focus is women’s susceptibility and immune response to HIV and the herpes virus.

Globally, women are more susceptible to HIV/AIDS than men, she noted.

“And why is that? Well, that’s why we do this research.”

Socioeconomics and politics play roles, but so does biology, she said, noting how female sex hormones can affect immune responses.

McMaster president Patrick Deane said the university is “delighted” with Kaushic’s “well-deserved appointment.”