USask to celebrate honorary degree recipients

At this year’s USask Spring Convocation ceremonies the university will award honourary degrees to USask alumnus Murad Al-Katib, a celebrated entrepreneur from Saskatchewan who turned his Canadian startup into a billion-dollar global plant-based protein company, and Dr. Gagandeep Kang (MD, PhD), a world leader in microbiology from India whose innovative interdisciplinary infectious disease research supports international initiatives and organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO).

USask President Vince Bruni-Bossio said the university is proud to celebrate the achievements and accomplishments of this year’s honorary degree recipients.

“We are grateful to have the opportunity to pay tribute to these remarkable individuals and to recognize the global impact they have made throughout their careers,” said Bruni-Bossio. “It is a privilege to spotlight these two leaders in their respective fields and to express our admiration and appreciation by bestowing the university’s highest honour at this year’s USask Spring Convocation.”

Here is a closer look at this year’s recipients:

A USask business graduate, Al-Katib (BComm’94) is the founder, president and CEO of AGT Foods, which has bolstered the province’s agriculture industry as a plant-based, packaged foods company producing and supplying healthy protein and fibre rich and “Better For You” food products to consumers in 127 countries.

AGT is the world’s largest value-added lentil and pea processor and exporter with a network of 40 manufacturing facilities on five continents. In addition to connecting Prairie producers with global markets, Al-Katib has helped feed those in need, becoming the first Canadian to earn the Oslo Business for Peace Award in 2017 for leading efforts to provide hundreds of millions of meals to refugees and displaced peoples fleeing conflict zones around the globe. Al-Katib has worked with international aid agencies including the United Nations World Food Programme and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to improve sourcing and sharing of basic food necessities for the global community.

Al-Katib remains a passionate supporter of his alma mater as a member of the Edwards School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council, as well as serving as a keynote speaker at Edwards Leadership events, and speaking at USask convocation. His work on behalf of the university and the province earned him the USask Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024 and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2017. Murad’s awards also include the 2021 ABEX Business Leader of the Year, 2020 Globe and Mail Innovator CEO of the Year, 2021 Canadian Western Agribition Top 50 in Canadian Agriculture, 2017 EY World Entrepreneur of the Year, and the 2016 EY Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year.

A leading researcher in vaccines and public health, Kang is a professor at Christian Medical College in India who helped establish community sites and laboratories for vaccine trials, with her interdisciplinary research focused on the transmission, development and prevention of enteric infections (particularly rotavirus and typhoid) in children. She has worked with colleagues in India to create national surveillance networks and served as chair of the technical advisory group for the Southeast Asian region of the World Health Organization, and was on the Board of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), of which the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at USask is a partner. She currently leads the enteric disease surveillance initiative, diagnostics and genomics for the Gates Foundation.

Her work has received global recognition, with Kang becoming the first Indian woman to be elected to the United Kingdom’s prestigious Royal Society and to the Fellowship of the American Academy of Microbiology, as well as becoming the only physician-scientist to receive the Infosys Award in Life Sciences. Kang was also awarded the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award in 2024, and has received honorary appointments at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.

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About USask honorary degrees:
An honorary degree is the university’s most prestigious award, acknowledging worthy and unique contributions recipients have made to their community and to the world. USask recognizes individuals who have outstanding accomplishments in research, scholarly and artistic works; performed exceptional public service; contributed greatly through their professional or philanthropic activity; and demonstrated extraordinary athletic prowess. To view past recipients, visit: https://library.usask.ca/uasc/campus-history-databases/honorary-degrees

For more on spring convocation, visit: https://students.usask.ca/academics/graduation.php