Dr. Sailen Barik is currently an independent researcher and consultant, was a professor at the University of South Alabama, College of Medicine, Alabama, and a professor in the Department of Biology at Cleveland State University, while also serving as the first Director of the University’s Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease. He has 163 publications with 7397 citations and an h-index of 51 (Scopus, 9 October 2023). He has made significant contributions in the molecular biology of RNA viruses (e.g., respiratory syncytial virus and parainfluenza virus), in parasitology (e.g., Plasmodium falciparum), and in protein and RNA structure and function.