Johan Neyts is full professor of Virology at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium where he teaches medical virology at the school of medicine and the school of dentistry. The focus of his lab is on the development of novel antiviral as well as novel vaccination strategies, against multiple viruses in particular against neglected & emerging pathogens of tropical regions. He is editor of the journal Antiviral Research and president-elect of the International Society for Antiviral Research. Four classes of antivirals discovered in his laboratory have been licensed to major pharmaceutical companies (two on HCV, one on dengue and one on rhino/enteroviruses). Johan Neyts published ~440 scientific papers and several book chapters and is inventor on numerous patents. He has given ~200 invited lectures at national and international conferences & institutions and has been honored with a number of awards including from the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine, the Belgian/Flemish Fund for Scientific Research and the International Society for Antiviral Research. He co-founded the KU Leuven spin-off company Okapi Sciences which was later acquired.