Colin R. Parrish, Ph.D. is the John M. Olin Professor of Virology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. He is a BSc (Hons.) graduate of Massey University in New Zealand where he majored in Microbiology and Biochemistry. A Ph.D. in Virology from Cornell University in 1984 was followed by postdoctoral studies on flaviviruses at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He has been on the faculty of Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine since 1988. He has been Councilor for Veterinary Virology and for Virus Evolution and President of the American Society for Virology. He was recipient of a Senior Fulbright award in 2016 and 2017. He was elected as a member of the National Academy of Science in 2023. Dr. Parrish’s research focuses on viral diseases and pathogenesis, virus structure, and virus evolution – including the evolution of new host ranges. Within the Compass center Dr. Parrish has been involved in the Jump thrust, focusing on the analysis of the host barriers to viruses and the evolutionary processes that have resulted in viruses emerging to cause epidemics of disease in new hosts.