Ling Zhao is a professor in the Department of Public Health, and a research member in the National Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology at Huazhong Agricultural university. Before taking the position at Huazhong Agricultural university, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania from 2009 to 2012. He received a Ph.D. degree from University of Georgia in 2009 and B.S. and M.S. degrees in Veterinary from Huazhong Agricultural university in 2000 and 2003, respectively. His current research aims at understanding the pathogenesis of neurotropic viruses and development of novel therapeutics against these pathogens. He also focuses on the development of novel prevention and control technologies for the pet-associated pathogens.