Kaushal Baid arrived in May from India to work with Wendy Wobeser (Medicine) on her research into drug-resistant HIV strains.

Queen’s researchers are connecting with international undergraduate students in a unique program designed to attract talent from around the world and introduce Canada as a leading research and innovation destination.

This year, Queen’s welcomes six international students through the Globalink program, including Kaushal Baid from India, who arrived in May to work for three months with Wendy Wobeser (Medicine) on her research into drug-resistant HIV strains.

“This fellowship exposes me to different types of research,” says Mr. Baid, who is in his fourth year of a bachelor of technology at the Vellore Institute of Technology. “In Canada, researchers have a different focus and this exposure gives me an edge over other students.”

In India, researchers focus on trying to find a cause for the disease, whereas in Canada, the approach is translational – using research to better people’s health and improve the lives of people living with HIV.

Dr. Wobeser and Mr. Baid are assembling and analyzing data on HIV strains in southeastern Ontario. The research, a collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Public Health Unit, follows an outbreak of drug-resistant HIV in Sudbury. It aims at determining whether similar strains appear in southeastern Ontario.

“Through the Globalink program, we receive highly capable students that bring diversity to our research program,” says Dr. Wobeser. “Kaushal brings different strengths to my research work. His analytical capacity is very well developed.”

Globalink is offered through Mitacs, a national, non-profit research organization. This year, it brings 270 undergraduate students from India, China, Brazil and Mexico to 28 Canadian universities. At Queen’s, in addition to medicine, participants are working with faculty in computing, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering.