Victor Mbao, an animal health scientist of a career spanning 30 years, is a Senior Program Specialist at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Before this, he was a Program Manager at the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed) managing the upgrading of an East Coast fever vaccine manufacturing facility and associated technology transfer in Malawi. His experience includes being the team leader of a livestock disease control project that introduced the first East Coast fever immunisation program in Zambia’s southern province and heading the Vaccine Production Unit at the Central Veterinary Research Institute in Lusaka, Zambia. Victor has postgraduate training in tropical animal health, veterinary epidemiology, parasitology, and tick-borne disease control. He holds a PhD in veterinary science from the Ghent University and Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp), as well as a bachelor of veterinary medicine from the University of Zambia.