Trushar (he/him) is working to understand the communication events between viral nucleic acids and human proteins. He was recruited to the University of Lethbridge, Canada in 2016 and subsequently was awarded Canada Research Chair in 2017. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. Before joining the University of Lethbridge, he received a distinguished Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship to work at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research post-doctoral fellowship to work at the University of Manitoba (Canada). Trushar completed his PhD in Biophysics studying carbohydrates from the University of Nottingham and BSc and MSc degrees in Biotechnology from India. He has published 87 peer-reviewed articles, and 35 Editorials and delivered >50 media interviews. Trushar serves as an editor of the European Biophysics Journal and has been very active with scientific and science-policy-related conference organizing activities. Recently, he was recognized with the New Investigator Award from the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences, Young Investigator or the Biophysical Society of Canada, the University of Lethbridge Volunteer of the Year awards as well as the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal. Although he did not attend the Shad program, he heard a lot of positive and inspiring stories about Shad from Shad Alumni. Therefore, when he had an opportunity to work with Shad at the University of Lethbridge, along with Catharine Reader, he was very excited to join the Shad Canada team. As an Associate Dean, Trushar also oversees a number of outreach activities on campus. Outside of work, he enjoys watching cricket, movies and traveling.