Two McMaster University researchers have been recognized by the Canadian Society for Virology (CSV) for their exceptional contributions to research and mentorship.
Matthew Miller, a professor of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, has received the Grandvaux-McCormick Award for Service to Canadian Virology, and Karen Mossman, a professor of Medicine, has been honoured with the CSV’s Mentor Award for Senior Investigators.
The awards, both among the CSV’s highest honours, celebrate significant and sustained contributions to the field of virology and excellence in mentoring the next generation of virologists.
“Having two of these national awards come to McMaster in one year speaks volumes about the strength of virology at our institution,” says Miller, who is scientific director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR).
“These honours reflect a strong, collaborative research environment and are a testament to the trainees, staff, and scientists whose collective efforts have established McMaster as a leader in the field.”
Miller, who is also executive director of NexusHealth at McMaster, has been honoured for his internationally recognized research program and for his leadership roles in the field of virology.
The Miller Lab focuses on understanding how the body’s immune system responds to viral infections and how those responses can be harnessed to better prevent and combat future pandemics. With colleagues at McMaster, he co-developed a next-generation, needle-free vaccine for COVID-19 and is currently exploring similar approaches to preventing other respiratory infections, such as those caused by influenza virus.
In addition to his research and leadership roles at the university, Miller has served as an expert advisor on various federal and provincial committees related to pandemic preparedness and response, and he regularly provides immunization guidance to government, industry, and media. He is a leading authority on pandemic influenza and has contributed extensively to efforts designed to bolster Canada’s domestic capabilities for addressing health security threats, most recently via the Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub (CP2H), of which he is co-director.
For Mossman, who served as McMaster’s vice-president of research from 2020 to 2024, being named a top mentor in Canadian virology is a reflection of her longstanding commitment to supporting and developing the next generation of researchers.
“Mentorship is one of the most important responsibilities that scientists have,” says Mossman, who is a member of the IIDR.
“It has been incredibly rewarding to support trainees and early-career investigators as they develop their own ideas, build toward their own successful careers, and make their own important contributions to the field.”
Over the past 25 years, Mossman has supervised more than 100 undergraduate and graduate students and has mentored dozens of postdoctoral fellows and research associates.
As former chair of McMaster’s Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, she has similarly supported numerous early-career scientists as they established new research programs at the university, including Miller himself, whom she helped recruit to McMaster in 2014.
The Mossman Lab has long been focused on understanding how viruses interact with host cells, with the goal of developing novel therapies for infectious disease and cancer.
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she and then-postdoctoral fellow Arinjay Banerjee — now a principal investigator at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan — played a pivotal role in the first isolation of SARS-CoV-2 from Canadian patients.
Their work enabled critical research efforts across the country, supporting studies of viral transmission, immunity, diagnostics, and vaccine development.
Miller and Mossman received their awards at the CSV’s annual symposium this month at the University of Guelph.