Stefania Leopardi is a veterinary director at the Emerging Viral Zoonoses Laboratory of Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie. She graduated in Veterinary Medicine in Bologna in 2010, and subsequently obtained a Masters in Wild Animal Health from the Royal Veterinary College, in collaboration with ZSL (London). In 2019 she specialized in animal health, breeding and zootechnical production at the University of Milan. Her interests are mainly focused on the ecology of infectious diseases in the wild reservoir, with particular focus on lyssaviruses and viruses emerging from the bat reservoir. She is involved in several projects on widlife pathogens, with the objectives of: i) identifying the reservoir species of different viruses with zoonotic potential, ii) studying the biological and behavioural determinants that influence the host / pathogen relationship, iii) describing the viral circulation in wildlife hosts, iv) studying the immune response of wildlife species, and iv) identifying contact points that may favour the spillover of viruses from wildlife to humans or domestic animals.