Peter Agre

BA, MD

Honorary Doctor of Science

Known for his brilliance, humour and humility, Nobel Laureate Peter Agre has a long and distinguished career as a doctor, contemporary scientist, researcher, and educator. Agre focuses on the problem of disease in the developing world. A former vice-chancellor at Duke Medical Center, he is presently a distinguished professor and director of the Malaria Research Institute at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, where he supervises lab research and oversees malaria field research in Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

Agre’s laboratory became widely recognized for discovering aquaporins, a family of water channel proteins found throughout nature and responsible for numerous physiological processes as well as multiple clinical disorders. This game-changing discovery earned Agre the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Roderick MacKinnon of Rockefeller University in 2003.  

Agre’s deep love and respect for humanity is reflected in his continued work to improve the human condition. He served as president and chair of the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and has traveled to Cuba, Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea), and Myanmar (Burma) to help promote peace and sustainable development. 

Among his many prestigious roles and honours, Agre has been elected to the esteemed National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. 

Agre’s continued passion for science and research, coupled with his drive to improve lives through informed policy, has played a vital role in public health around the globe. For his significant scientific influence and discoveries, The University of Winnipeg is pleased to award Dr. Peter Agre an Honorary Doctor of Science.