On Nov. 18, UM alumni, partners, faculty members, students and friends of the college will celebrate the 140th anniversary at a gala at the RBC Convention Centre. The event will raise funds for MD and grad student bursaries.

While the medical college has educated generations of physicians and served the community, it has also been a thriving centre for the advancement of medical science.

“We’re known for punching above our weight in terms of our research achievements,” says Peter Nickerson [B.Sc.(Med.)/86, MD/86], vice-provost (health sciences) and dean of the Max Rady College of Medicine and the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

“Each year, the college brings in more than $100 million in external research funding. Our investigators, including master’s and PhD students, conduct multidisciplinary research that influences health policy, improves patient care and saves lives.”

From innovative disease research carried out in labs and at hospital bedsides, to studies that give a voice to under-represented patient groups, to findings gleaned from one of the world’s richest storehouses of health data – the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository – the Max Rady College of Medicine is constantly generating new knowledge.

“Our strengths include being exceptionally collaborative, forging effective external partnerships and reaping the benefits of intergenerational chains of research mentors and mentees,” says Nickerson, a kidney specialist who is himself a distinguished research scientist.

In addition to the acclaimed faculty members and alumni who are laureates of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame – we’re spotlighting them in a list on Nov. 16 – here are 10 Max Rady College of Medicine research highlights that have made an indelible impact.

Dr. Lorrie Kirshenbaum

• In 1948, a cardiologist convinced nearly 4,000 air force veterans to enrol in a study of their cardiovascular health. The extraordinary project, based at UM and known as the Manitoba Follow-up Study, is one of the world’s longest-running health studies of a specific cohort. One of its findings in the 1990s was that shorter men are at greater risk of dying of heart disease than taller men. The study, now led by Robert Tate [M.Sc./75, PhD/00] and marking 75 years, is still tracking a handful of surviving participants. Meanwhile, UM scientists like Lorrie Kirshenbaum [B.Sc./86, M.Sc./88, PhD/92], Canada Research Chair in molecular cardiology, are engaged in leading-edge cardiovascular research. Kirshenbaum has earned international recognition for his work on cardiac cell death and its impact on the development of heart failure.

Dr. Edward (Ted) Lyons

• In the mid-1960s, UM radiologist Edward (Ted) Lyons [B.Sc./63, B.Sc.(Med.)/68, MD/68] became one of the earliest pioneers of ultrasound. His groundbreaking research helped to establish ultrasound as safe for fetuses and mothers, and his findings influenced hospitals across the globe to adopt the technology. Lyons led the first lab in Canada to perform general ultrasound. For years, he worked with manufacturers to evolve the technology from a machine the size of a refrigerator to a portable device no larger than a cellphone. He has called himself “a traveller on a stream of new imaging technology.”

Dr. Stephen Moses

• Frank Plummer [MD/76], who passed away in 2020, was a key member of a multigenerational chain of researchers who have worked for more than 40 years in partnership with the University of Nairobi, making high-impact discoveries in the area of sexually transmitted infections. In the late 1980s, Plummer led a UM team in discovering that some Kenyan women sex workers who had been exposed to HIV infection were naturally immune to it. This breakthrough provided vital new information for HIV vaccine and drug development. In 2007, UM’s Dr. Stephen Moses co-led a study showing that circumcision reduced the risk of HIV infection by 50 to 60 per cent in men who had heterosexual sex. This insight was named one of the biggest medical breakthroughs of the year by Time magazine.

Dr. Heather Dean

• In the late 1980s, when Type 2 diabetes was considered an adult-only disease, UM pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Heather Dean and her colleagues made the startling discovery that some First Nations children in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario had the disease. They published the first paper about these children in 1992. Dean went on to work closely with First Nations communities to better understand the disease. Today, UM researchers continue to study many aspects of youth-onset Type 2 diabetes, including following a cohort of offspring of First Nations individuals who were first diagnosed as children.

Dr. Ryan Zarychanski (Photo: Doctors Manitoba)

• In 2012, a breakthrough by UM and CancerCare Manitoba scientists made the cover of Blood, the world’s top medical journal on blood disorders. The study, led by Dr. Ryan Zarychanski [B.Sc./95, B.Sc.(Med.)/00], identified the genetic mutation responsible for the hereditary blood disorder xerocytosis. Groundwork for this discovery had been laid 40 years earlier by UM hematologist Lyonel Israels [MD/49, M.Sc./50], founding father of CancerCare Manitoba. Zarychanski now holds the Lyonel G. Israels Research Chair in Hematology. This year, he was named Physician of the Year by Doctors Manitoba for leading international clinical research to rapidly assess potential treatments for COVID-19.

Dr. Gary Kobinger

Dr. Jason Kindrachuk

• During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, UM’s Dr. Gary Kobinger was chief of special pathogens at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. His team of UM and PHAC researchers co-developed an experimental antibody cocktail called ZMapp. In 2014, it was used in saving the life of an American doctor with Ebola – a dramatic event that made international headlines. Today, Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, Canada Research Chair in the molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses, is keeping UM on the map as a virus centre through his work on viruses such as Ebola, mpox and coronaviruses.

Dr. Marcia Anderson

• UM is a national leader in partnering with Indigenous communities in health research. In 2019, for example, a landmark joint study by the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba and the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy in the Max Rady College of Medicine illuminated the worsening health gap between First Nation people and all other Manitobans. This year, UM’s Marcia Anderson [MD/02] took a leadership role in making Manitoba the first province to systematically ask hospital patients to voluntarily declare their race, ethnicity or Indigenous identity. The purpose of collecting this data is to address racial inequities in health care.

Dr. James Blanchard

• In 2022, health research and programming in India led by James Blanchard [B.Sc.(Med.)/86, MD/86], executive director of the UM Institute for Global Public Health, received a major injection of support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding of US$87 million will support reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health in the state of Uttar Pradesh. In total, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has invested US$280 million in international UM projects. The Institute for Global Public Health has been a world leader in forming partnerships to strengthen health systems and influence health policy, particularly in countries in Asia and Africa, says Blanchard, who holds a Canada Research Chair in epidemiology and global public health.

Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie

• An internationally renowned multiple sclerosis (MS) researcher at UM, neurologist Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie, directs the MS Clinic at Health Sciences Centre. This year, Marrie received a prestigious U.S. prize for her trailblazing body of work. She and her team were the first to explore the implications of comorbidities such as high blood pressure and heart disease in people with MS. She has also shown that the disease may have a “prodromal phase” that precedes the onset of specific MS symptoms. Her ongoing research is laying important groundwork for both prevention and improved treatment of MS.

Dr. Meghan Azad

• Meghan Azad [PhD/10] is a worldwide expert on the science of breast milk. She holds a Canada Research Chair in developmental origins of chronic disease at UM and is also a researcher with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. This year, she and her team landed a grant of US$2.5 million from a prestigious U.S. funder, the National Institutes of Health. The project will include in-depth lab analyses of milk samples from 1,600 mother-child pairs, looking at breast milk in a way that is unique in the world. The data will then go to machine-learning experts at Stanford University, who will use artificial intelligence to explore it. The study is expected to generate the world’s largest and most detailed dataset of mothers, infants and breast milk.

In January, the milestone was celebrated at an international research conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

The partnership between the two institutions has been recognized as a best-practice example of North-South research collaboration. It is regarded as a model global health initiative and has received millions of dollars in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The partners’ landmark discoveries include that HIV can be transmitted from mother to child through breastfeeding; that STIs such as gonorrhea and chlamydia increase susceptibility to HIV infection; and that some individuals have natural immunity to HIV.

“The collaboration has made a huge impact,” said Keith Fowke [B.Sc.(Hons.)/88, PhD/95], head of medical microbiology and infectious diseases in the Max Rady College of Medicine.

“U of M has been a global leader in making cutting-edge contributions to understanding HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, thanks to this partnership.”

At the conference, Dr. Ruth Nduati, professor of pediatrics at the University of Nairobi, spoke of the opportunities that the partnership has given to Kenyan scientists.

“This collaboration has been a gift to the young people of Kenya,” she said. “It has given them the possibility to dream that their work can be part of transforming the world.”

The collaboration began in 1980, after two doctors from opposite sides of the world met at a conference. Dr. Herbert Nzanze, head of medical microbiology at the University of Nairobi, convinced Allan Ronald [MD/61, B.Sc.(Med)/61, DSc./11], a UM research pioneer in infectious diseases, to come to Kenya to help combat sexually transmitted chancroid infections in men.

A small lab was opened in Nairobi, and Manitobans started travelling back and forth to operate it. Ronald brought in one of his star students, Frank Plummer [MD/76], and engineered links with infectious disease specialists at other institutions, including the University of Ghent in Belgium and the University of Washington in Seattle.

Seeking to track down the source of the chancroid infections, the group opened a clinic in the shantytown of Majengo to assess female sex workers. They soon brought chancroid under control. But in 1985, they were shocked to discover that a high percentage of the sex workers had HIV/AIDS. They changed their focus to the growing epidemic.

More students came to join them, not just from Manitoba but from Belgium and Seattle. Kenyan medical students started going to Winnipeg and Seattle to further their training.

In the late 1980s, Plummer led a team – including Fowke, then a graduate student – in discovering that some Kenyan women sex workers who had been exposed to HIV infection were naturally immune to it. This breakthrough provided vital new information for HIV vaccine and drug development.

In 2007, a team led by UM professor Dr. Stephen Moses demonstrated that circumcision reduces men’s risk of HIV infection by as much as 60 per cent. This insight led to expanded circumcision programs throughout eastern and southern Africa.

The Manitoba-Nairobi partnership also developed HIV prevention and control strategies that included opening free clinics‚ educating sex workers and distributing condoms. Many of the strategies have successfully been implemented by other countries.

Today, the University of Nairobi STD/HIV/SRH Collaborative Research Group includes several other universities in addition to Manitoba, Ghent and Washington, including the University of Toronto, McMaster University and the University of California.

To mark the 40th anniversary, attendees at the conference included then UM President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. David Barnard and University of Nairobi Vice-Chancellor Dr. Stephen Kiama.

Reflecting on 40 years, co-founder Ronald, now distinguished professor emeritus in medical microbiology and infectious diseases, emphasized the links between science, public policy and clinical practice, and the priority of getting research results implemented so they can save lives.

“Global health needs to be further defined as a shared responsibility between scientific and academic leaders, governments and implementation processes that are demonstrated to the public, and to funders, as able to reduce disease burden,” he said.

Kenyan professionals have been vital to the collaboration’s research and clinical success. A number of Kenyan students who went abroad to study at universities affiliated with the collaboration eventually assumed health-system and research leadership roles in their home country.

Omu Anzala [PhD/97], currently director of the Kenyan AIDS Vaccine Initiative, earned his PhD at UM. Dr. Joshua Kimani, who became chief clinician for the collaboration, recalled a visit to Winnipeg that influenced his career path.

Back in 1987, Kimani was a third-year medical student when a Canadian – Dr. Frank Plummer – came to lecture his class on sexually transmitted diseases. “HIV had just come,” Kimani remembered. “People didn’t really understand it.”

Kimani and another student were so intrigued by Plummer’s talk that they volunteered at the Majengo clinic. That experience influenced them to specialize in infectious diseases. In 1989, they received funding from UM to spend three months in Winnipeg.

They did rounds at local hospitals and were awestruck to meet senior figures like Ronald, Dr. Robert Brunham and Dr. Joanne Embree, who were well-known members of the collaboration with their names on numerous research papers.

“By the time we came back home,” Kimani said, “we had seen a different world and been opened up to the opportunities in public health.”

Fowke, who has made more than 40 trips to Kenya in his career, said it was moving and inspiring to mark the 40th anniversary in Nairobi with an international network of colleagues and friends.

“With five generations of UM and UN researchers represented at the meeting, I felt tremendous pride in the vision of the founders, immense hope for the future – seeing the excellence of our students – and honoured to be part of this collaboration,” he said.

“UM researchers and students have improved the health of Kenyans and people around the world, and we should all take a moment to celebrate that accomplishment.” 

LARRY KROTZ and RADYUM STAFF

Remembering Dr. Frank Plummer

The celebration of the 40-year University of Manitoba-University of Nairobi partnership gave way to sorrow on Feb. 4, 2020 with the sudden passing in Nairobi of esteemed scientist Frank Plummer [MD/76], a leading figure in the collaboration.

The day before his passing in Nairobi, Dr. Frank Plummer was reunited with Hawa, a research participant who was found to have natural immunity to HIV nearly 30 years ago.

The world-renowned infectious disease expert was 67 years old. Just days before suffering a fatal heart attack, he had spoken at the 40th-anniversary conference and enjoyed reuniting with many of the Kenyan women whose natural immunity to HIV his team had discovered in the late 1980s.

“Frank Plummer’s contributions to public health on a global scale were immense. Today we lost a giant,” said Brian Postl [MD/76], dean of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and a medical school classmate of Plummer. “Frank distinguished himself as a true leader and visionary.”

The Winnipeg-born Plummer, who joined the UM faculty in 1984, spent 17 years in Nairobi leading the collaboration. His work not only produced vital knowledge about the HIV epidemic in Africa, but led to prevention and control strategies that influenced worldwide health policy on sexually transmitted infections, saving tens of thousands of lives.

In Canada, Plummer’s leadership roles included serving as scientific director general of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg and director general of the Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control in Ottawa.

He led the Canadian laboratory response to the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009. At the time of his passing, he was distinguished professor emeritus of medical microbiology and infectious diseases at UM and was working to develop an HIV vaccine.

“The work of Dr. Frank Plummer has had a tremendous impact on global public health, and he was a prime example of dedication and passion in one’s profession,” said Dr. David Barnard.

Plummer’s many prestigious honours included the Order of Canada, the McLaughlin Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, the Prix Galien Research Award, the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award and the Flavelle Medal of the Royal Society of Canada.

“He was an outstanding, world-class researcher who was a dear colleague, mentor and friend to many of us lucky enough to work with him, and beside him,” said Keith Fowke [B.Sc.(Hons.)/88, PhD/95], head of medical microbiology and infectious diseases. “He will be dearly missed by all of us in the academic and scientific community.”

As an international hub for infectious disease research, MMID has been involved in many international breakthroughs. More recently, in the case of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, it was researchers from the NML and MMID who developed the vaccine to treat the virus. However, the genesis of how MMID got onto the international stage for infectious disease research is often unrecognized.

MMID’s response to the outbreak of a sexually transmitted infection known as chancroid (caused by Haemophilus ducreyi) was the prominent impetus that forged international ties to the University of Nairobi (UoN) in Kenya. Amid Winnipeg’s local chancroid outbreak in the 70s, the
active department head, Dr. Allan Ronald, and his colleague, Dr. Gregory Hammond, sought to identify the causative agent by developing conducive growth media and subsequently assessed antibiotic susceptibility. Their efforts were rewarded in the capacity to treat and eradicate this local outbreak, ultimately becoming experts in the management of chancroid.

In 1979, while attending a meeting of the United Nations, Dr. Ronald learned of a large chancroid outbreak in Kenya. He met the then Head of the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Nairobi, Dr. Herbert Nsanze, who invited him to assist with the chancroid outbreak in Kenya. In 1980, they worked at a Nairobi City clinic called the ‘Casino clinic’ in downtown Nairobi to study chancroid which mainly catered to male clients. This was the first international collaboration for MMID and one that is still ongoing.

In 1984, Frank Plummer, a medical fellow of Dr. Ronald’s, joined the clinic to study gonorrhea caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae. For his research project Frank started a cohort of female sex workers from Pumwani District in Nairobi. Working alongside (the late Prof) Elizabeth Ngugi, a nurse with the project, they used a community engagement (peer engagement) model in which the sex workers themselves came up with ways of communicating STI prevention approaches. This led to the birth of the Majengo clinic where the MMID team is still providing health care for the sex workers. Initial research at this clinic focused on N. gonorrhoeae and its sensitivity to antibiotics.

Since then, the number of studies that have been carried out by students at the U of M and the UoN, as well as faculty from both institutions, and other research facilities based at the UoN. 

The U of M/UoN collaboration has greatly contributed to Kenya’s fight against HIV; especially among high risk populations as well as undertaking research other areas of infectious diseases.

One of the first demonstrations and publication of heterosexual HIV transmission of HIV in women in Africa was from the Nairobi cohort. Dr. Joanne Embry and Dr. Frank Plummer described mother-to-child transmission of HIV through breast milk, and the team also showed higher risk of HIV infection in men with foreskin. To translate their research into the community, they utilized the peer engagement model; a model where select community members work as peer educators to explain and translate key research on HIV. This model has been adopted by clinics in India.

Dr. Keith Fowke’s laboratory focuses on immune responses in individuals who, though exposed to HIV frequently, appear to be resistant to infection with the virus, known as highly exposed seronegative (HESN). They are currently conducting studies focused on blocking inflammation
as a new approach to HIV prevention.

Dr. Blake Ball’s research focuses on immune responses and susceptibility to HIV and TB; Dr. Lawrence Gelmon’s research interest is in HIV/ AIDS, STIs in relation to epidemiology and health policies; Dr. Kelly MacDonald’s research combines basic science and clinical aspects of HIV vaccines. Drs. Ma Luo and Frank Plummer are also working on an HIV vaccine based on studies from the HESN Nairobi sex workers. Dr. Lyle McKinnon’s research combines epidemiology with basic science studies of transmission among cohorts of men who have sex with men (MSM), female sex workers (FSW), and adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in several countries including Kenya. Dr. Elijah Songok, is tackling HIV protection by the identification of novel biomarkers in HIV-resistant sex workers of the long standing Pumwani cohort of Nairobi for HIV drug development in the future. His position as head of Graduate Studies at the U of Nairobi, has enabled him to bridge international research capacity between U of Nairobi and U of M trainees with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)- the Kenyan equivalent of Canada’s NML. Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, Canada Research Chair in Molecular Pathogenesis of Emerging and Re-emerging Viruses, whose research focus is emerging infectious diseases, also leads science outreach activities in Africa that focus on building capacity and expertise in emerging virus preparedness at the local level.

Five generations of Canadian and Kenyan researchers have now been training through this collaboration. Together, from a modest start, the collaboration between MMID and the U of Nairobi has resulted in several highly significant research findings and improved health to populations globally.

Toby Le, M.Sc student, MMID

Shifa Mohideen, M.Sc student, MMID

Florence Mutual, Ph.D. candidate, MMID

Ruth Mwatelah, Ph.D. candidate, MMID