Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling, is Directorate-General of the Life Science Division at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. She obtained her veterinary degree and her doctorate degree in veterinary virology from the Veterinary School Hannover, Germany. After postdoctoral training at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, she was Assistant Professor at INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier in Laval, QC, and then Associate Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, before becoming Director of the Veterinary Division at Paul-Ehrlich-Institute, the German Federal Institute of Vaccines and Biomedicines, in Langen, Germany. Her expertise lies in the development of novel prophylactic and therapeutic strategies against infectious diseases.