Grant Kay is a postdoctoral researcher focusing on the endogenous viruses of leishmania, a parasite of significant global health importance. He gained an MBChB from the universities of St Andrews and Manchester during which he developed a keen interest in global health and infectious disease. Grant joined Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) in 2017 to undertake an MSc in vector biology and parasitology. In 2018 he was accepted onto the Medical Research Council Doctoral Training Pathway at LSTM and the University of Lancaster through which he completed a PhD focused on the effects of insecticide resistance on the immune systems of mosquitoes, and the impacts on their ability to transmit pathogens including Zika virus. During the COVID-19 pandemic Grant conducted research into the immune responses to infection and evaluated novel diagnostics including lateral flow assays. After completing his PhD in 2023 he began work as a postdoctoral researcher investigating the immune responses of mosquitoes to infections with viruses, and the ability of British mosquitoes to transmit West Nile virus. In 2024 Grant was awarded the LSTM Director’s Catalyst Fund and began investigating how leishmania parasite immune systems control their endogenous viruses, identifying what the impacts are for disease severity and transmission, and assessing how these viruses may present novel treatment targets for leishmaniasis.