Biography

Dr. Kelly MacDonald received her Bachelors Degree from Queen's University in 1983 and her Medical Degree from the University of Manitoba in 1987.  She was trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington, and is certified in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. She did her post-doctoral training at the University of Manitoba and the University of Toronto. 

Dr. MacDonald is the Director of the HIV Research Program and holder of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) Endowed Chair in HIV Research at the University of Toronto. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine and a practicing Microbiologist and Infectious Disease Consultant at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University Health Network. As a clinician scientist her research interests include the studies of the role of human leucocyte antigens (HLA) in mediating resistance to HIV and Hepatitis C and their role in viral vaccine design. She has focused on the use of DNA immunization as a vaccine strategy and the use of anti-HLA alloimmune responses as well as T cell epitopes as novel targets for HIV vaccine development.

She supervises research labs in Toronto and in Nairobi, Kenya where she has graduate students and post-doctoral fellows involved in studies of the immunobiology and epidemiology of HIV infection.  She is the research representative on the Board of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network. She has served as a member of the Federal Ministerial Council on HIV/AIDS and is currently the co-chair of the HIV vaccine track of the Canadian Vaccine Network (CANVAC).

Recent Publications