Daniel Růžek is a research scientist at the Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences. He graduated from the Faculty of Biological Sciences/Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia. He received his postdoctoral training at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, USA. He is also a Professor at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Yamaguchi University, Japan. His research focuses on vector-borne and emerging viral diseases. He has published more than 130 papers and received numerous scientific awards in the Czech Republic and abroad.