McMaster Gets a Royal Visit

Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands addresses the issue of antimicrobial resistance at McMaster University.

Posted on May 16, 2017

International university collaborations and research on antimicrobial resistance were the focus of the visit to McMaster University by Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and her husband Professor Pieter van Vollenhoven on Monday, May 15.

Upon arrival, the royal couple was greeted by McMaster University President Patrick Deane and City of Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger, before attending a ceremonial signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between McMaster and Vrije University (VU) of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

After the signing and a private lunch, Princess Margriet and Professor van Vollenhoven met with McMaster students in the MSc Global Health program. Princess Margriet is the honorary chair of the advisory board for the program which is offered in partnership by Maastricht University in the Netherlands and McMaster.

Princess Margriet then opened a symposium about antimicrobial resistance with scientists and officials of McMaster and the Public Health Agency of Canada and scientists of Maastricht and the University of Utrecht. “Research and innovation should be placed high on the agenda,” noted Princess Margriet in her opening remarks about resistance to antibiotics – an issue that has been identified by the World Health Organization and others as an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires urgent action.

Professor Gerry Wright, director of McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, was keynote speaker at the symposium. After the session, he led the royal party on a tour through the institute and its Centre for Microbial Chemical Biology.

“We were very excited to welcome back Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet, who has been a driving force in our joint program with Maastricht University, and an important voice in addressing emerging global health problems” says Associate V-P Global Health, Andrea Baumann, who is also director of the MSc Global Health program at McMaster. “Antimicrobial resistance is a global health threat that requires collaboration and multidisciplinary action, so international partnerships are critical,” says Baumann.