Dr. Lorne Babiuk (BSA’67, MSc’69, DSc’87, DSc’14)

Lifetime Achievement Award

As the highest honour presented by the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Association, this award recognizes an alumnus/alumna for an outstanding lifetime of personal and professional accomplishments and contributions to the social, cultural, and economic well-being of society in their field(s) of endeavour.

Dr. Lorne Babiuk (BSA’67, MSc’69, DSc’87, DSc’14) is an internationally recognized leader in Canadian vaccine research who has devoted his career to safeguarding the health of people and animals at home and abroad. His contributions to immunology, virology, and vaccinology have led to the development of vaccines that have significantly impacted global health outcomes by reducing mortality and morbidity.

Born in Canora, Sask., Babiuk earned Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Master of Science degrees at the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) before receiving his PhD at the University of British Columbia and an earned Doctor of Science degree in veterinary microbiology at USask. Babiuk began his professional career at USask in 1973 in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM), where he became a full professor in 1979. In 1980, he joined the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at USask, where he held various positions that culminated in his appointment as director in 1993.

Founded in 1975 as a Prairie-based livestock lab, during the past 50 years VIDO has grown into one of the world’s leading infectious disease research centres and is recognized as Canada’s Centre for Pandemic Research. As a former director of VIDO—which underwent a $19.4-million expansion in 2003 during his tenure—Babiuk led a team that developed six world-first livestock vaccines, including the first genetically engineered vaccine for an animal species. Known for applying animal research to human diseases, he created a vaccine against rotavirus in calves that enabled researchers to develop a vaccine against the viral bowel infection in children. He also set in motion the creation of the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac) at USask, obtaining funding and helping to design the facility with the architects. InterVac officially opened in 2011 as a level three biocontainment facility and one of the largest of its kind in the world. 

Throughout his career, Babiuk’s work has been global in scope, and he has engaged in research activities in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Notably, he directed a major international research collaboration funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation under the Grand Challenges in Global Health Program, which is known as one of the most prestigious funding competitions in history. With more than 1,600 applications received, Babiuk’s team was selected as one of 41 to receive funding in the competition. Most recently, Babiuk led an international team dealing with food security challenges in Africa and the development of vaccines to control, and potentially eradicate, several viral diseases of livestock. Throughout his research activities, Babiuk has included undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows from around the world, with the goal of exposing students to all aspects of science, from basic laboratory work to science policy, regulatory affairs and intellectual property, and team building.

Babiuk’s extensive research has resulted in more than $200 million in research funding, and his work has been cited more than 40,000 times, according to Google Scholar. After his tenure at VIDO concluded in 2007, he served as vice-president of research at the University of Alberta until 2019. Babiuk currently holds the title of professor emeritus at both the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta and is also a long-standing board member at the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS). Throughout his storied career, Babiuk has earned numerous awards and honours, including the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2006. Prior to that, in 2005, he was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada, before being named a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2006 and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (U.S.) in 2016. In recognition of his extraordinary contributions to science, Babiuk has also been awarded three honorary Doctor of Science degrees, from Colorado State University, the University of Guelph, and the University of Saskatchewan.