Bhagirath Singh is currently Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Western Ontario. He has also served as deputy director of the John P. Robarts Research Institute (1997-2000), co-director of the Immunology Program (1992- 1997) and department chair (1992-2000). Dr. Singh has been scientific director of the CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity (Ill) since its inception. He has pioneered new approaches for the immunotherapy of type 1 diabetes. He was first to discover that this spontaneous autoimmune disease and its recurrence could be prevented by immunization with microbial agents such as adjuvants. This discovery had a major impact in our understanding of the role of innate immunity in the prevention of type 1 diabetes and is currently known as “hygiene hypothesis”. Dr. Singh has received scholarship and scientist awards from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. In 2004, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.