Dr. Eric Arts is fascinated by infectious diseases – and angered by the inequities they expose.  

Eric has learned about both firsthand, having spent the past 30 years in Uganda specializing in HIV-AIDS research.  

Born and raised in southwestern Ontario farm country, Eric began his career as a virology scientist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. His job was to conduct clinical research on HIV, the viral pandemic that had killed millions over 20 years, hitting sub-Saharan countries like Uganda especially hard. In 1997, he went to Uganda to help set up clinical studies on HIV, moving from the lab to the front lines of the pandemic.  

It didn’t take long for Eric to see how he could make an impact.  

“When I started working in small clinics in Uganda, at least one or two people were dying of AIDS every day. It changes your perspective. You say, ‘Maybe I can do something here. Maybe I can contribute a small part to try to understand what’s going on here.’”

And he did. Eric joined a team of Ugandan researchers and medical specialists at the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) in Kampala, helping develop its clinical and research programs.

In the late 1990s, the team was painfully aware of both the high incidence of HIV-AIDS among Ugandans and the inequity in access to drug therapies. In more developed areas of the world, antiretroviral drugs were being used effectively to treat HIV, but they hadn’t yet reached Uganda. And while research into HIV was breaking new ground in the West, progress there lagged behind.

To address these gaps, Eric and his JCRC colleagues developed and established the Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) Laboratory.  

“Through that lab, finally we were able to get the antiretroviral drugs to the people who needed them most in sub-Saharan Africa. And we were able to provide testing and understanding of how well those drugs were working specifically in Africa.”

The CFAR team has completed more than 100,000 tests in Uganda. This testing has become part of a national program that continues to expand.  

Now a professor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Eric has become a leader in developing facilities that enable next-level research into infectious diseases. He led the establishment of Western’s Imaging Pathogens for Knowledge Translation (ImPaKT) research centre, which develops tools and technologies to study infectious diseases, and is now spearheading the university’s $44-million Pathogen Research Centre. Slated to open in 2027, it will complement ImPaKT and advance infectious disease research, enabling Canadian-made vaccines and biotherapeutics for clinical trials.  

In addition to the advanced technology that will be available at the Pathogen Research Centre, Eric is particularly enthused by the opportunity for scientists to collaborate and the impact their combined expertise can have in treating viruses worldwide.  

“We do not do research to treat a single person. We do research to, hopefully, rid the world of disease. You have to bend and change, and leave your ego at the door, knowing there's a problem out there and it may be on the other side of the globe, but all of us need to work together to solve it.”