Global career giving hope for TB, HIV recovery
Her big-impact career has cross four continents, and award-winning immunologist Dr Riti Sharan remains focused on how the smallest interactions make a huge difference to human health.
The passionate scientist is exploring immunotherapies for infectious diseases like tuberculosis and HIV – and the research journey began with her PhD in microbiology at CQUniversity.
Now an assistant professor at Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, in the United States, Dr Sharan is CQUniversity’s Alumnus of the Year for Industry Engagement in 2025.
When she moved to Rockhampton to study in 2008, it was Riti’s first time leaving her home country of India.
“It was a big decision, because it was really far from home – but when I look at it from the diverse culture, the resources, the campus, the opportunities that I had for growth, it was not that difficult (do decide),” she said.
“For my PhD, investigating copper for reducing spread of waterborne diseases, I was doing a lot of mouse modelling, to look at the bugs, the germs – but I was very interested on the host side, how the human body is reacting to it.
“Ever since, I’ve been asking - what are the factors that drive either protection, or people just continuing to get sicker?”
With her freshly-awarded PhD, in 2011 Dr Sharan joined the Institut Pasteur in France as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, where she studied the efficacy and safety of vaccines.
Since 2019, she’s been driving research into immunotherapies at Texas Biomed, with a particular focus on TB and HIV.
“This was a very obvious interest for me, because I come from a country where tuberculosis is highly endemic - and I have seen a lot of sick people in front of me, when I used to visit hospitals or I was doing my internship,” she explained.
“I have always been passionate about doing research that's relevant to humanity, and if I can do anything to help my people, that is a huge motivation.”
In her current role, Dr Sharan leads research in a high-containment laboratory: “I get suited up like an astronaut! And you're kind of cut off from the outside world, which does take a strong mindset,” she said.
It’s particularly challenging with a family, and as the mum of a 10-year-old girl – but Dr Sharan relishes the opportunity to empower the next generation of female scientists.
She says the recognition as CQU’s Outstanding Alumnus for 2025 is a welcome reminder of her impact outside the lab.
“It means to me so much, especially coming from my alma mater, where I began my research career - it's really, truly humbling and very deeply moving,” she said.
“I think it speaks to my commitment to science, and my journey – but it also reinstates my belief in myself and my research.”
Dr Sharan paid tribute to her CQU supervisor and Emeritus Professor Rob Reed, and to her teams at Institut Pasteur and Texas Biomed, for supporting her to strive towards big goals.
“While the Alumnus of the Year award is a personal recognition, I think it's also an acknowledgement of everyone who has helped me along the way – and now with my own lab, I get to pass on that mentorship and encouragement I received, too.”Her big-impact career has cross four continents, and award-winning immunologist Dr Riti Sharan remains focused on the smallest interactions make a huge difference to human health.
The passionate scientist is exploring immunotherapies for infectious diseases like tuberculosis and HIV – and the research journey began with her PhD in microbiology at CQUniversity.
Now an assistant professor at Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, in the United States, Dr Sharan is CQUniversity’s Alumnus of the Year for Industry Engagement in 2025.
When she moved to Rockhampton to study in 2008, it was Riti’s first time leaving her home country of India.
“It was a big decision, because it was really far from home – but when I look at it from the diverse culture, the resources, the campus, the opportunities that I had for growth, it was not that difficult (do decide),” she said.
“For my PhD, investigating copper for reducing spread of waterborne diseases, I was doing a lot of mouse modelling, to look at the bugs, the germs – but I was very interested on the host side, how the human body is reacting to it.
“Ever since, I’ve been asking - what are the factors that drive either protection, or people just continuing to get sicker?”
With her freshly-awarded PhD, in 2011 Dr Sharan joined the Institut Pasteur in France as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, where she studied the efficacy and safety of vaccines.
Since 2019, she’s been driving research into immunotherapies at Texas Biomed, with a particular focus on TB and HIV.
“This was a very obvious interest for me, because I come from a country where tuberculosis is highly endemic - and I have seen a lot of sick people in front of me, when I used to visit hospitals or I was doing my internship,” she explained.
“I have always been passionate about doing research that's relevant to humanity, and if I can do anything to help my people, that is a huge motivation.”
Transcript
[Music] I noticed in my family, pretty early on, some people would fall sick very often and I would not. And so I just felt what am I doing different or what is it different in my genetics?
So that kind of started making me think.
I did my PhD with Dr Robert Reed at CQU, primarily in microbiology, and I think I was very interested on the host side.
You know, we always talk about the bugs the germs I know what the bug is doing, but how is the human body reacting to it? And what are the factors that are driving either protection, or you know, people just getting sicker?
I work in high containment lab which essentially means I get suited up like an astronaut and go in and do my work so it means you're kind of cut off from the outside world. It does take a lot of mindset to do that you know? Right now we have treatments to just essentially kill the germ, but we don't do anything to make the person feel better.
We don't have techniques to help their immune system.
The primary focus of my own lab is to do those kind of immunotherapies that are pretty common right now in cancer, but not so much in infectious diseases like TB and HIV.
The Alumni Award, I think it means to me so much especially coming from my alma matter where I began my research career. I think it speaks to my commitment to science my journey as a researcher over four different continents and then also reinstates my belief in myself and my research... yeah and to just leave a positive impact wherever I keep going.
In her current role, Dr Sharan leads research in a high-containment laboratory: “I get suited up like an astronaut! And you're kind of cut off from the outside world, which does take a strong mindset,” she said.
It’s particularly challenging with a family, and as the mum of a 10-year-old girl – but Dr Sharan relishes the opportunity to empower the next generation of female scientists.
She says the recognition as CQU’s Outstanding Alumnus for 2025 is a welcome reminder of her impact outside the lab.
“It means to me so much, especially coming from my alma mater, where I began my research career - it's really, truly humbling and very deeply moving,” she said.
“I think it speaks to my commitment to science, and my journey – but it also reinstates my belief in myself and my research.”
Dr Sharan paid tribute to her CQU supervisor and Emeritus Professor Rob Reed, and to her teams at Institut Pasteur and Texas Biomed, for supporting her to strive towards big goals.
“While the Alumnus of the Year award is a personal recognition, I think it's also an acknowledgement of everyone who has helped me along the way – and now with my own lab, I get to pass on that mentorship and encouragement I received, too.”
Dr Sharan’s other recent recognitions include the 2020 NIH K01 Career Development Award, 2024 AAI Early Career Faculty Travel Grant, and the 2022 Early-Stage Investigator Award from the Texas Developmental Center for AIDS Research for her impactful contribution to HIV research.
CQUniversity is proud to have more than 130,000 alumni around the world, and to celebrate their impact through its annual Alumni Awards.
Learn more about CQUniversity's 2025 Alumni Award recipients here.
