Dickson Akankwatsa is a Nursing Officer by training with about 6 years of practice as an infection prevention and control technical officer serving at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), Makerere University in Uganda. He is currently pursuing his Master of Public Health at college of Health sciences, Makerere University, Uganda in his final year. He has conducted his master thesis on rabies control through implementation research in Kyegegwa, a local district in Uganda. While at the IDI, he has supported the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre (PHEOC) for public health events and he has over the years supported epidemic response for infectious diseases including but not limited to Yellow fever, Ebola, COVID 19, Cholera, Marburg amongst others. This experience has triggered his desire to invest time in public health research for zoonotic diseases. When he completed his medical internship at Mulago National referral hospital, he joined the World Health Organization (WHO) on locum basis for the 2018 Ebola outbreak response in South Western Uganda, after which he joined the IDI till to date. He has received training in implementation research for neglected tropical diseases, leadership and management in global health from the University of Washington, infection prevention and control from the Infection control network (ICAN) South Africa. And he is passionate towards research and writing.