Mr. Md. Ariful Islam is an Anthropologist with over 13-year experience in the field of public health research and surveillance at icddr,b. He obtained a Master of Social Science in Anthropology from the University of Dhaka, in 2005 and Master of Public Health from ASA University Bangladesh, in 2017. Back in 2014, he has been awarded with Australian Leadership Award to participate in a professional training course on "Public Health Leadership Professional Development Programme in Emerging Health Challenges" at Griffith University, Australia. He has been coordinating the implementation of multiple projects, including the national hospital-based influenza surveillance in Bangladesh, one of the largest surveillance platforms in Bangladesh, which has contributed in influenza vaccine strains selection by WHO and supported developing national influenza control policy. His research interests include emerging infectious diseases, particularly respiratory infections such as influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2, outbreak response, infection prevention and control and antimicrobial resistance. He is the first author of one article, and a co-author of nine articles published in international peer-reviewed journals and presented three abstracts at international scientific conferences. He is a member of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and a life member of One Health Bangladesh.