Congratulations to Dr. Manish Sadarangani on his recent appointment as the Sauder Chair in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of British Columbia. Funded by a donation from the Sauder Family, the Chair supports research to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of childhood infectious diseases.
When it comes to saving the lives of kids with serious infections, Dr. Sadarangani believes “the best option is prevention.” This new Chair will enable Dr. Sadarangani to further laboratory, clinical and population-based studies aimed at:
- Understanding the immune response to vaccines
- Developing new vaccines
- Evaluating vaccine programs at the population level
- Examining the incidence, causes and effects of serious childhood infections
Dr. Sadarangani is head of the Vaccine Evaluation Center (VEC) at BC Children’s Hospital. Founded in 1988, the VEC is an academic centre of excellence focusing on vaccine and immunization research in BC and across Canada. He is also a pediatric infectious disease specialist and an investigator at BC Children’s, and assistant professor with the UBC Department of Pediatrics.
Dr. Sadarangani was recruited to BC Children’s in 2016 from The Children’s Hospital in Oxford, UK.
Infectious diseases are typically transmitted through direct and indirect contact. They include common childhood viruses and bacterial infections like pink eye and life-threatening illnesses like measles and meningococcal meningitis.
The Sauder Chair in Pediatric Infectious Diseases was previously held by Dr. David Speert, Investigator Emeritus with the Centre for Understanding and Preventing Infection in Children at BC Children’s and Dr. David Scheifele, founder and previous Director of the VEC.
