What was the name of the employer Malik Peiris work for from Sep 1982 to Sep 1988?
Malik Peiris Professor Malik Peiris FRS , dHonneur , ( Sinhala:මලික් පීරිස් ; born 10 November 1949 ) is a Sri Lankan pathologist and virologist . He has been long based in Hong Kong . His research interests include ecology , evolution , pathogenesis , epidemiology of animal-human influenza and other human respiratory viral infections , authoring over 320 research publications . Peiris is most notable for being the first person to isolate SARS virus . He holds the Tam Wah-Ching Professorship , Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences , University of Hong Kong , where he continues to lead ground breaking research with a particular interest in newly emerging viruses such as Coronaviruses at the animal-human interface . He serves as a member on the Advisory panel on Emerging Infectious Diseases , Health Protection Agency of Hong Kong , was on the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong and was previously a member of the World Health Organizations Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization ( SAGE ) . Together with his co-workers , he has published more than 600 scientific papers in a research career spanning more than 35 years and is credited with 32 scientific patents relating to diagnosis of viral infections . Early life and education . Peiris was born on 10 November 1949 in Kandy , Sri Lanka . He completed school education at St . Anthonys College , Kandy , and commenced attending the University of Ceylon , Peradeniya to study medicine in October 1967 . He graduated with MBBS honours in September 1972 . Academic and Clinical Training . After completing the clinical internships , he joined the Department of Bacteriology in the Medical School of the University of Ceylons Peradeniya Campus as a junior lecturer . His mentor and head of department was Professor Sarathnanda “Chubby” Arsecularatne , who greatly influenced his career . In 1977 , Peiris was awarded a Commonwealth scholarship for post graduate research training at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford , with Dr . J.S . Porterfield as his research adviser and mentor . He was awarded the D.Phil degree in 1981 . A major aspect of his dissertation was the paradoxical role that antibodies may play in facilitating rather than blocking the entry of viruses such as the West Nile virus and the dengue virus into macrophages , the first line defense cells of the body . Research training in Oxford was followed by two years of training in clinical pathology as a Registrar in Virology with Professor R . Madeley at the department of Clinical Virology , Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne , culminating in the award of the Membership of the Royal College of Pathologists . In 1982 , he returned to his native University in Sri Lanka where , over a period of six years , he established a pioneering Clinical Virology Laboratory . In reflection , he described his achievements during these years in a resource poor setting as some that he is most proud of . After his period in Sri Lanka from 1982 to 1988 , Peiris rejoined the Victoria Royal Infirmary in Newcastle in the UK , as a Consultant Virologist . The final and most significant career change was in 1995 , when Peiris shifted his Clinical and Scientific efforts to Hong Kong , based around the HKU-Pasteur Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong , after having founded the Clinical Diagnostic and Public Health Laboratory at Queen Mary Hospital , University of Hong Kong . His team of scientists and doctors was strategically placed to face the challenges of the Avian influenza virus outbreak , the severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS ) Coronavirus outbreak , the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS ) Coronavirus outbreak and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic . Original research carried out by the Hong Kong laboratories have made major contributions to the knowledge of the causative viruses of these diseases and the understanding , diagnosis , treatment and prevention of the diseases that these viruses cause . During the period of 2003 to 2004 , Peiris was credited with authoring the highest number of high impact publications in the scientific world . Notable findings . Avian Influenza . In 1997 , after the first human outbreak of the Avian Influenza Virus H5N1 in Hong Kong , Professor Peiriss attention was turned to the virus , which claimed the lives a third of its victims . Research in his laboratory showed that the virus induces high levels of chemicals called cytokines when it infects a type of white blood cell . This was later shown to correlate with high levels of cytokines in infected humans . This so-called cytokine storm is now recognized as a major mechanism of avian influenza virus pathogenesis . Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS ) . In 2003 , Hong Kong suffered another virus outbreak , this time from an unknown respiratory disease , termed SARS . Peiris became known worldwide when his laboratory was the first to isolate the virus , a Novel coronavirus ( CoV ) , now known as SARS-CoV . Peiris led the team which isolated the causal agent for the respiratory infection SARS in early 2003 . By June 2003 , the Peiris laboratory and their collaborators had developed a rapid diagnostic test for SARS-CoV using Real-time polymerase chain reaction . The team has published the standard laboratory manual book on the SARS coronavirus . COVID-19 . In February 2020 , Peiris and his colleague , Leo L . M . Poon , published a definitive article in the Journal Nature Medicine presaging the pandemic of a new coronavirus . In March 2020 , Peiris reported that a Pomeranian dog was infected with COVID-19 . At first , these findings were dismissed , but other COVID-19 animal infections across the world , substantiated Peiriss findings that animals could be infected by the virus such as the case of a tiger in Bronx Zoo and a pug dog in North Carolina both testing positive . Honours . He is the first Sri Lankan to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London ( conferred in 2006 ) . This is considered the highest scientific honour in the Commonwealth . The biographical notes recorded by the Royal Society reads “ Malik Peiris was the first to isolate the severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS ) virus that caused international alarm when it emerged in South China in 2002–2003 . His expertise in human disease caused by animal viruses encompasses viral evolution , transmission , mechanisms of infection and the immune response of human hosts.Working in Hong Kong on pandemic diseases with a high mortality rate such as bird flu ( H5N1 ) , swine flu ( H1N1 ) and SARS , Malik has been at the centre of surveillance and rapid-response programmes . His original insights into bird flu include the potentially fatal ‘cytokine storm’ that follows human infection , and the recombinant origin of the virus” . He was decorated as Knight of the Légion dHonneur of France on 15 October 2007 He was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star ( SBS ) in 2008 from the government of Hong Kong SAR for outstanding achievements in the field of virology and pathology , in particular his contribution to the prevention and control of infectious diseases . Malik continues to work at the University of Hong Kong and was appointed scientific director of the Hong Kong University-Pasteur Institute . In May 2017 , Malik was elected as a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences He holds several academic positions by being the Chair Professor of Microbiology and Tam Wah-ching Professor of Medical Sciences at The University of Hong Kong , Honorary Consultant Microbiologist at Queen Mary Hospital and the Scientific Director of the HKU-Pasteur Research Centre at Hong Kong . Family Background . He is married to Sharmini Arsecularatne and they have a daughter , Shalini and a son , Shehan . Professor Sarathnanda “Chubby” Arsecularatne was the foundation Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Ceylon , Peradeniya , and was Peiris’ early mentor . He later became Peiris’ father-in-law . External links . - Features , Daily News ( online ) , June 2006 , webpage : DailyNews-fea01 : contains Following the discovery of the cause of SARS , Professor Peiris was invited... . - HKU ResearcherPage : Peiris , JSM , The HKU Scholars Hub ( online database ) , webpage : HKU Scholars Hub : Researcher Page