Dr Virginia Marugan-Hernandez is a Lecturer in Molecular Parasitology at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC, United Kingdom). Virginia graduated in Spain in 2003 as Agronomic Engineer specialised in zootechnics (technology of animal husbandry) and she completed her PhD in the Veterinary Faculty of Madrid in 2011, with a thesis focused on vaccine development against Neospora caninum, an important parasite of dogs and cattle. Thereafter, Virginia moved to the RVC as postdoctoral researcher working in different molecular aspects of eimerian parasites and vaccine development. In 2018, she became and independent researcher as RVC Research Fellow to continue her studies in parasitology; and since May 2023, she joined the Academic team at the RVC as Lecturer in Molecular Parasitology. Her research focus in developing new tools for control of chicken coccidiosis. This includes vaccine development, with studies looking at the identification of novel antigens, evaluation of different delivery systems, and study of immune responses using a range of in vitro and in vivo methods; as well as the implementation of in vitro models for novel anticoccidial testing.