Francesca Rizzo is a Scientific Officer at Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences.
After obtaining a BSc/MSc in Biological Sciences, Francesca attended a Higher Specialist Training in Microbiology and Virology, and completed her PhD in Veterinary Sciences on the genetic characterization of bat-borne viruses at the University of Turin.
Francesca worked in Public Health at the Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle D’Aosta as a clinical scientist and researcher for 13 years. During this period, she developed her research interests in virology and zoonotic infectious disease dynamics. Her field of expertise includes classical and molecular diagnostics applied to the surveillance of animal and vector-borne zoonoses such as Avian Influenza, West Nile encephalitis and Q fever at the wildlife/livestock/human interface.
Francesca moved to Hong Kong and joined JCC in July 2021.