Professor Christine Maritz-Olivier is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, where she leads the Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases research programme. Her research looks at how the cattle immune system responds to ticks and the diseases they transmit, helping to improve vaccine formulations. To ensure translation of their research to field conditions, their vaccinology studies are conducted in parallel with phylogeography of tick species and animal models to study co-infestation, predominantly using Babesia species.

Before starting her current role, Christine carried out postdoctoral research as a Wellcome Trust funded fellow in both South Africa and the Netherlands. Christine is also co-initiator of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded cattle tick vaccine project (CATVAC) and is a past President of the International Society of Tropical Veterinary Medicine. She has received several international scientific awards, serves on a number of editorial boards for international journals, and has been a member of the team delivering the IVVN African Schools Outreach Programme in South Africa since 2018.