In 2000 she developed the “DIVA” (Differentiating Vaccinated from Infected Animals) strategy, the first ever developed to combat AI by vaccination still enabling trade of commodities and is now among the strategies recommended by international organizations such as OIE/FAO and by the EU to combat AI on a global scale.

From 2005 to 2009 she has been Chairman of OFFLU - the OIE/FAO network on Animal Influenza, which aims at supporting developing countries in managing the AI crisis and offering veterinary expertise to complement the international efforts and the medical community in managing the pandemic threat posed by AI and other animal influenza viruses.

In 2006 she was a co-author of a letter to Nature magazine (A global initiative on sharing avian flu data) signed by over 70 medical and veterinary virologists and 7 Nobel laureates. This eventually led to the launch of the GISAID initiative to share avian influenza virus sequences and thus better understand the evolving epidemiology of animal and human influenza infections with a transdisciplinary approach which now is a core part of the global influenza preparedness strategy.

From 1990 to 2010 she authored and co-authored over 300 publications, mainly in international peer-reviewed journals and has co-authored two text books on avian influenza.

She is currently coordinating 2 EU–funded projects which focus on a practical approach to the global AI crisis (FLUAID and FLUTRAIN) and is a partner of additional 5 EU projects and is a WP leader in the EU Network of Excellence EPIZONE devoted to research in the field of animal pathogens.

In 2007 she was among the winners of the Scientific American 50 prize and in 2008, was included among Seed’s Revolutionary Minds series, for leadership in science policy for promoting sharing of information at an international level.