Keith Fowke

Dr. Fowke is Professor and Head in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba.

In 1988 Dr. Fowke received his B.Sc. (H), first class, in Microbiology from the University of Manitoba.

He then initiated graduate work in the university's department of medical microbiology under the direction of Drs. J. Neil Simonsen and Francis Plummer.

His PhD thesis work entitled “Resistance to HIV-1 Infection Among a Group of Continuously Exposed Women” consisted of the initial description of HIV resistance in the Pumwani sex workers cohort in Nairobi, Kenya.

After receiving his PhD in 1995, Dr. Fowke sought to strengthen his interest in cellular immunology through a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Dr. Gene Shearer at the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Over the next four years Dr. Fowke’s research focused on immune dysregulation in HIV infection.

In 1999, he was recruited to BBI Biotech Research Laboratories, in Gaithersburg Maryland, as a project scientist to establish an HIV cellular immunology lab.

In 1999, Dr. Fowke was also recruited to a tenure-track assistant professor position in the University of Manitoba's department of medical microbiology and infectious diseases, was promoted to associate professor in April 2004, full professor in 2009, and became department head in 2013.