Professor Emeritus of pediatrics. Vaccine investigator. Lover of water sports.
David Scheifele, a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pediatrics, also is the former and founding Director of the Vaccine Evaluation Centre. He is member of the Order of Canada, a four-time winner of “Teacher of the Year” award from BC Children’s pediatric residents, and the UBC Killam Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Over the past 150 years, what do you think is the most important Canadian discovery, contribution or achievement in health research?
I like the story of Frederick Banting, a surgeon with a crazy idea who needed to borrow a lab and a summer student, Charles Best, to pursue it. That it saved countless lives and led to a Nobel Prize-worthy discovery (one of only a few earned by Canadians) was truly remarkable.
However, as an infectious diseases specialist, I’d like to nominate Julio Montaner of the HIV Centre of Excellence at St Paul’s Hospital as my example of a profoundly important contributor to global health. His discovery (with others) that multi-drug treatment of HIV infection could drive it into a type of remission, and his aggressive lobbying to apply this early in all new cases, have helped to change the course of this disease from a lethal progression to a chronic, survivable condition. His approach has received wide support and is being applied globally, to the benefit of a great many people. All led from B.C.!
Looking towards the future, what new health discovery, treatment or innovation will come from Canada?
I’m very excited by the newly-formed team based at UBC that is a major player in the Human Vaccines Project. The ambitious aim of the project is to decode the rules governing optimal immune responses to vaccines so that they can be made better – effective with just a single dose, providing life-long protection, and affordable to everyone in the world. The B.C. team, led by Professor Tobi Kollmann and Assistant Professor Manish Sadarangani, is at the forefront of this international collaboration, thanks to remarkable collaboration among top local researchers in a range of disciplines.
What is your favourite Canadian pastime?
One of the first things I did after moving to Vancouver was to take sailing lessons. Since then I have embraced sailing, fishing, kayaking and powerboating, taking advantage of the remarkable marine environment that we enjoy in B.C. This year, my destination is Desolation Sound.
