WINNIPEG — The former scientific director of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory who had experimental brain surgery to battle alcoholism has died. Dr. Francis (Frank) Plummer, a world-renowned microbiologist and infectious-disease expert, was 67. “He was a scientific maverick,” Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, tweeted on Tuesday. Plummer was a mentor, she said, who helped set up and make the national laboratory in Winnipeg a world-class institution. Plummer was at the helm of the lab during the SARS, influenza and H1N1 epidemics, as well as during the development of an Ebola vaccine.

Source: National Post February 04, 2020 21:10 UTC