Prestigious John Dirks Gairdner Global Health Award for Dr. Gagandeep Kang

Dr. Gagandeep Kang, an Indian researcher, has been awarded the 2024 John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award for her achievements in global health research.

Gairdner Foundation’s 2024 Awardees

• The Gairdner Foundation announced its 2024 Canada Gairdner Award winners, recognizing some of the world’s most significant biomedical and global health research and discoveries.

Dr. Kang’s Contributions and Impact

• The Foundation awarded Dr. Kang “for extensive cohort-based epidemiological, environmental and clinical trial research on enteric diseases in children and their effects on life course, with significant impact on vaccine development and health policy in India and internationally.”
• Dr. Kang’s research group has established substantial community-based birth cohort studies addressing childhood enteric infections, growth, and development for over 20 years.
• Her work has generated extensive information on the complex interactions between the environment and infections in children, and the influence of prior infections on subsequent responses to vaccination.
• Kang conducted the largest single birth cohort study on rotaviral infections in the world, demonstrating that protection after a natural infection is lower in India than in developed countries, which has important implications for disease control through vaccination.
• She has led studies that contributed to the development and introduction of two Indian rotavirus vaccines into the national immunization program.

Other 2024 Canada Gairdner Award Laureates

• The other 2024 Canada Gairdner International Award laureates were recognized for their work in areas such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer, DNA sequencing technology, and understanding the impact of human breast milk on the infant microbiome.
• The 2024 Canada Gairdner Momentum Award went to mid-career investigators, including Meghan Azad and Christian Landry, for their exceptional scientific research contributions with continued potential for impact on human health.