Dr. Frank PlummerWinnipeg Chapters Honours Dr. Frank Plummer in "A Celebration of Global Research"

On May 14, 2008, Winnipeg Chapter, Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University, will present the Scopus Award to world-renowned Winnipeg health researcher Dr. Francis A. Plummer at a gala dinner reception - A Celebration of Global Research.

The Scopus Award is the most recent honour in a long list of awards and distinctions that Dr. Plummer has received in Canada and around the world for his work in public health and science. He is the Scientific Director General of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg and Chief Scientific Advisor for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Dr. Plummer received his medical degree from the University of Manitoba in 1976 and trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Southern California, the University of Manitoba, the University of Nairobi, and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.  He joined the University of Manitoba faculty in 1984 and is currently Distinguished Professor at the University of Manitoba, as well as Professor of Medical Microbiology and Community Health Sciences.

Dr. Plummer’s most recent past honour this year was his appointment as Officer of the Order of Canada and his induction into the Royal Society of Canada.  Additionally, in 2005, he received a grant from the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue studies on HIV resistance and work on an HIV vaccine.  In 2001, Dr. Plummer was named a Canada Research Chair of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.  He has also been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, has served as an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences in the US, and as a consultant to the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the Governments of Kenya, India and Lesotho.

In receiving The Scopus Award, Dr. Plummer joins a very prestigious group that includes past recipients:  Bob Rae, Harold Buchwald, Harvey Wolfe, Edward Bronfman, Peter Oberlander, President Gerald Ford, Senator Edward Kennedy, Zubin Mehta, Alexandre Raab, Edward Winant, Harvey Kruger, Steven Spielberg, Izzy Asper, Elie Wiesel, and Professor Bernard Shapiro.

Net proceeds from the gala will be used to help advance the battle against West Nile, Influenza and HIV/AIDS through research into, and development of, vaccines. Proceeds will also be used to accelerate a new collaboration between the infectious diseases community in Winnipeg and the new Hebrew University Institute for Medical Research in Jerusalem for research into specific infectious diseases and the development of vaccines to combat them.

We look forward to saluting Dr. Plummer’s excellence in medical research and bringing community attention to his extraordinary achievements on May 14.