Name of pioneering HIV/AIDS researcher now adorns Centre for Viral Diseases

LDI facility renamed to honour the late Dr. Mark Wainberg

The McGill Centre for Viral Diseases, based in the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI) at the JGH, has been renamed in memory of Dr. Mark Wainberg, a globally renowned HIV/AIDS researcher and Director of the LDI from 2000 to 2009.

Dr. Zev Wainberg

Dr. Wainberg, who died in 2017, was the recipient of numerous honours—including the Order of Canada and the Order of Quebec—for his pioneering work, which included developing a drug that has been instrumental in saving millions of lives around the world.

“My father always felt that this hospital and McGill University were unique places that gave him opportunities to establish a foothold as the first AIDS lab in Canada,” Dr. Zev Wainberg told colleagues and family members who gathered on September 30 in the newly named Mark Wainberg Centre for Viral Diseases.

The ceremony was followed by an inaugural symposium, also named for Dr. Wainberg. Organized by McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, it featured speakers from McGill University, the University of Montreal, the University of Toronto and Western University.

Dr. Lesley Fellows, McGill’s Vice-Principal of Health Affairs and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, said it was “absolutely inspiring the way Dr. Wainberg championed and advocated for very marginalized people”—that is, those with HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Lesley Fellows

This advocacy, along with his scientific discoveries, was crucial in transforming HIV/AIDS from a fatal illness to a manageable chronic disease, she said.

Dr. Stephen Robbins, the LDI’s Director of Research, recalled that before coming to Montreal, he did his post-doctoral work in San Francisco alongside several leading scientists, including a Nobel laureate who was a virologist.

Dr. Robbins said he kept hearing about “the great work that was going on in Canada in HIV, and Mark’s name always used to come up around the table.”

“I’ve always tried to follow in Mark’s footsteps, but those are big shoes to fill,” Prof. Chen Liang, Director of the Centre, said after the ceremony. Prof. Liang joined the LDI in 1995 and spent four years working on his post-doctoral fellowship under Dr. Wainberg’s guidance.

“He was a wonderful mentor with unlimited energy and I’m so lucky I had the chance to work alongside him for so many years.

Dr. Stephen Robbins

“Mark’s lab also trained many researchers and scientists who are now leaders in the field of AIDS and other viral diseases. Some are chairs of departments and deans of schools. As his trainees, we’ve become part of his legacy, and we strive to continue the great work that he started, but could not finish.”

In the early 1980s, not long after the global threat of AIDS gained prominence, Dr. Wainberg became the first scientist in Canada to work directly on HIV and to establish a bio-containment facility equipped to handle this specialized research.

He was among the first in the world to identify the problem of HIV drug resistance. This led directly to his key contribution in 1989 in discovering the anti-viral drug 3TC, or Lamivudine, which is combined with other medications to treat the infections caused by the human immunodeficiency virus.

Dr. Wainberg also served as President of the International AIDS Society from 1998 to 2000, with responsibilities that included organizing the 13th International Congress on AIDS in Durban, South Africa, in 2000.

In 2006, he co-chaired the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, where he publicly challenged the Canadian government to support global efforts to fight AIDS.

A year later, Dr. Wainberg was instrumental in enabling the JGH to build a new bio-containment laboratory in the LDI.

Prof. Liang noted that Dr. Wainberg “never hesitated to fight for the rights of those who needed but had no access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs” and he made sure his voice was heard by political leaders and policy makers.

“We’re all very happy the Centre will carry his name and will extend his legacy.”