Richard Russell is Professor of Medical Entomology at The University of Sydney, and Founding Director of the Department of Medical Entomology at Westmead Hospital. He was with the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at the University from 1970 until its closure in 1987, whereupon he transferred to the University’s Department of Medicine and founded the Medical Entomology unit at Westmead. He has experience with all aspects of medical and public health entomology. His research has been primarily on mosquitoes and their role as pests and vectors of pathogens, and he established the NSW ‘Mosquito and Arbovirus Surveillance Program’ in 1984. He is author and co-author of several monographs, has published more than 200 scientific papers on medical entomology topics, more than 200 consultancy reports, and has presented more than 150 papers at scientific meetings in Australia and in many countries internationally. He is an advisor on vector-borne disease to the Commonwealth, NSW and other State Health Departments, has been the Australian delegate to the International Federation for Tropical Medicine, and has worked as a consultant in all Australian states and internationally in 18 countries - principally for the World Health Organization and AusAID.