Julia Walochnik is an associate professor and head of the Molecular Parasitology research unit at the Institute of Specific Prophylaxis and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. After studying Biology (Microbiology and Parasitology), she graduated (PhD) from the University of Vienna in the year 2000. Her research focuses on Acanthamoeba spp. and other protozoan pathogens. Julia Walochnik is on the board of several professional societies, was the president of the German Society for Protozoology and of the ÖGTPM, and has received several awards, including the Austrian Award of Hygiene and the Gerhard-Piekarski Award of the German Society for Parasitology.