Dr. Kirk Douglas is a professional senior scientist recognized both regionally and internationally for impactful scientific research in the fields of microbiology, infectious diseases, biosecurity, virology and zoonoses. He has earned a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Microbiology (2001), a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) degree in Microbiology (2007) and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Medical Microbiology (2020) from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados. In addition, he holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with Merit Honours (2019) from Warwick Business School (WBS), University of Warwick, United Kingdom. Dr. Douglas commenced his career as a summer student in the Virology Department at the Hospital for Sick Kids, Toronto, Canada (2001), then upon returning home to Barbados, he worked as a Veterinary Laboratory Technician at Veterinary Services Laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture, Barbados in 2001, before moving on to an international medical device manufacturer in Barbados from 2002 until 2019. In addition, he has led several initiatives to minimize product scrap and poor quality in intraocular (IOL) manufacturing processes resulting in significant corporate savings and increased profitability. His research in the fields of infectious diseases, biosecurity and virology started as an undergraduate at UWI Cave Hill involving a summer field research project on wild rats with Professor Paul Levett, which led to his first publication as a co-author, the first report of serological evidence of hantavirus infections amongst humans and rodents in both Barbados and the Caribbean (2002). He has authored multiple peer-reviewed scientific papers in the fields of microbiology, virology, biosecurity, infectious diseases and zoonoses which have received almost 100 citations.