Question: what inspired you to learn about Ebola and to find out new things about it?

Verity Hill answered on 11 Nov 2018:

The West African epidemic was ongoing the whole time I was an undergraduate. I was horrified that a disease like Ebola, which we know how to control, had spread so far and infected and killed so many people. It made me realise that I wanted to help because I felt quite powerless when I was hearing and learning about it. I really wanted to discover things that might help whole populations of people!
But to be honest, if that epidemic hadn’t happened, I would likely still be working on viruses and their genetic information changes and how that helps us control diseases. I think it’s a very interesting and cutting edge part of research and it’s the first time that we can really answer these questions (because it’s the first time that the data has been available).