Professor and Head of the Joint Research and Development Division of Departments of Virology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and The National Veterinary Institute

Professor Belák is a veterinary surgeon and an internationally leading expert in virology, zoonotic diseases and molecular epidemiology. His research programmes comprise infection biology, influenzavirus, pestivirus and coronavirus infections, molecular diagnostics and food safety. He heads the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Collaborating Centre for the Application of Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods for Diagnosis of Viral Diseases in Veterinary Medicine and he is the President of the European Society for Veterinary Virology (ESVV). He is also member of the Board of the EC European Platform for Global Animal Health and the European Advisory Board for Cat Diseases (ABCD).

Professor Belák has been awarded several awards, including the "Centenary Award" of British Veterinary Association in 1989, the “George Fleming Literary Prize” in 2002 and the “Thuréus prize” (in medicine, technology, economy) of the Royal Society of Sciences, Sweden, in 2004.