Ajit Lalvani is Chair of Infectious Diseases and Director of the National Respiratory Infections Health Protection Research Unit at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Dr. Lalvani leads a multidisciplinary programme of public health research to protect the health of the population from respiratory infections. His remit includes influenza, tuberculosis, emerging respiratory infections and pandemic preparedness, including new emergent threats such as COVID- 19. He has 25 years’ experience conducting patient-based research which has consistently been translated into innovative practical solutions resulting in paradigm-shifting advances. These include the first ever rapid blood test for TB, new national latent TB screening programmes and the blueprint for a universal pre-pandemic influenza vaccine. He has raised £30 million in research funding and published 160 research papers, which have been cited 11,000 times. Lalvani is a Governor of The Science Museum Group, Chair of Trustees at The Bromley by Bow Centre, Governor of International Students House and Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board of the India Alliance, India’s most esteemed medical research funding organization. His scientific insight into COVID-19 has been given an extra depth of perspective after recently contracting the virus himself.