Professor Edward C. Holmes is in the Sydney Institute for Infectious Disease, School of Life and Environmental Sciences and the School of Medical Sciences at The University of Sydney.

Professor Holmes is known for his work on the evolution and emergence of infectious diseases, particularly the mechanisms by which RNA viruses jump species boundaries to emerge in humans and other animals.

He currently holds an ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship. He moved to the University of Sydney in 2012. He has studied the emergence and spread of such pathogens as SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus, dengue virus, HIV, hepatitis C virus, myxoma virus, RHDV and Yersinia pestis. His previous appointments include Verne M. Willaman Chair in the Life Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University, USA, and Affiliate Member of the Fogarty International Centre (2005-2012), National Institutes of Health, USA.

From 1999-2004 he was Fellow of New College, Oxford. He is also an Honorary Visiting Professor at Fudan University, Shanghai. In 2021 he received the (Australian) Prime Minister's Prize for Science. He is the author of 667 peer-reviewed papers and two books.