Malik Peiris

Malik Peiris is Professor and Chair in Virology at the School of Public Health, the University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on the virology, ecology, pathogenesis and epidemiology of influenza, coronaviruses and other emerging respiratory viral infections.

He has a particular interest in emerging viral infections at the animal-human interface and in 2003, he played a key role in the discovery that a novel coronavirus was the cause of SARS, helping to understanding its pathogenesis and control. In collaboration with his colleagues at the School of Public Health, his research has elucidated the emergence, transmission and pathogenesis of avian influenza viruses H5N1, H9N2, H7N9 and the pandemic H1N1 virus of 2009, and more recently, of the MERS coronavirus.