Dr. Nicole Bernard is an associate professor in the Division of Experimental Medicine of the Department of Medicine at McGill University and a scientist in the Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program at the McGill University Health Centre. She is also a research associate at the McGill Centre for Host Resistance, a member of the Immune Deficiency Treatment Centre, and a member of the McGill AIDS Centre.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology at McGill and a PhD in microbiology and immunology from Duke University before completing a fellowship in rheumatology and immunology at the University of North Carolina and in immunology from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Bernard’s research aims to understand the host responses that underlie the persistent seronegativity of certain individuals despite high levels of HIV exposure and the slow disease progression observed in certain population of people living with HIV.

Dr. Bernard’s research has led her to become a co-investigator for CTN 247, the objective of which is to gain a better understanding of HIV-positive slow progressors by examining their virus type, factors determining their rate of HIV progression, and how their immune systems function. She has contributed to more than a dozen CTN research publications, recent ones being related to CTN 247.