BSc and MSc, Carleton University, Canada; PhD (1981), Dalhousie University, Canada; Research Scientist at Texas A&M University, USA. Acting Chair and currently Professor at the University of Guelph teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in microbiology. His research focused on molecular virology of insect viruses and viruses of veterinary importance, publishing in excess of 130 international peer-reviewed publications.

Editorial Board member of Journal of Virology, Biocontrol Science and Technology, Biological Control Theory and Applications in Pest Management, Canadian Journal of Microbiology and Encyclopedia of Virology.

He has been involved in governance of scientific organizations and societies as President of the international Society of Invertebrate Pathology, President of the Canadian Society for Microbiologists, member of the Executive of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), member of research grants and scholarship selection panels for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Ontario Research and Innovation. He was a Board of Director member, Program Leader and Member or Chair of various committees, including Socio-ethics Working Group and Training Committee for Biocontrol Canada. He served as the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Ambassador for Canada and was a visiting scientist in the Netherlands.