Professor Felicity Burt (PhD, Medical Virology, WITS) is jointly appointed as a Principal Medical Scientist in the Division of Virology, NHLS and Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa. She holds a South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Vector Borne and Zoonotic Pathogens Research. Her research focuses on detection, pathogenesis and molecular epidemiology of medically significant arboviruses and viral haemorrhagic fevers in southern Africa. Her research activities have included developing molecular and serological tools for arbovirus surveillance, establishing a metagenomics platform for virus discovery and investigating host immune responses and pathogenesis of selected arboviruses. She has supervised more than 60 postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows and has > 100 publications in international peer reviewed journals. She is responsible for establishing the biosafety level 3 facility at the UFS for handling zoonotic and arboviral pathogens. She is a National Research Foundation B1 rated researcher, and an internationally recognized expert on Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus and other arboviruses. She was an invited member of the WHO led prioritization of diseases of epidemic and pandemic threat review for the Bunyaviridae and Togaviridae families. She served on the International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) for the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance, is currently on the ISAB for The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a member of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) working group, a member of the SAB for Polio Research Foundation and Vice Chairperson of the Southern African Society for Virology.