Ross Fitzgerald is currently Director of Edinburgh Infectious Diseases and Professor of Molecular Bacteriology at The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh. After completing PhD and post-doctoral training in Trinity College, Dublin, and the NIH, USA he established a research group at the University of Edinburgh investigating the biology of major bacterial pathogens including Staphylococci and Legionella. His group is combining genomics and functional analyses to understand how new pathogens emerge, spread and cause disease. A major goal is the translation of fundamental discoveries into novel approaches to controlling infectious disease such as diagnostics and vaccines.