Tam Wah-Ching Professor in Medical Science and Chair Professor of Virology, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong
Professor Malik Peiris is Professor and Chair of Virology at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong. He is a clinical and public health virologist with a particular interest in emerging virus disease at the animal-human interface, including influenza and coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2). In 2003, he identified the novel coronavirus that caused SARS and contributed to understanding its origins, diagnosis and control. He has also worked on zoonotic, seasonal and pandemic influenza, MERS and COVID-19. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 2006, Foreign Associate of National Academy of Sciences in 2017. He was awarded Canada Gairdner Global Health Award (2021) and Future Science Prize (2021) for his contributions to research and control of emerging virus infections.