Very grateful to the advisory committee (Drs. Linda Chelico, Vikram Misra, Matthew Miller) for guiding her projects over the last 4 years! Thank you to external examiners, Drs. Amy Gillgrass and Joyce Wilson, the Defence Chair, Dr. Janet Hill, and Committee Chair, Dr. Joe Rubin.

Our first PhD student who made phenomenal discoveries in the field of virology and bat comparative immunology and started new lines of research within my laboratory.

Thank you to your exceptional speakers, Drs. Miller, Mubareka, Gerdts, and Bhargava.

Insights into therapeutics and vaccines, surveillance, critical infrastructure, and training programs that need to be developed and maintained simultaneously for pandemic preparedness and to mitigate threats from ongoing and future viral epidemics and pandemics.