Prof Harvala graduated in Medicine, obtained a MSc in Organic Chemistry and a PhD in Virology at the University of Turku, Finland. Subsequently she completed her Medical Virology training in Edinburgh and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists in 2015. During that time, she joined the European Public Health Microbiology fellowship programme at the Public Health Agency of Sweden for two years before returning back to the UK. Over the last years, she has combined her work as a Consultant Medical Virologist with clinical, transfusion and public health related virology research.  

She is a co-founder of the European Non-Polio Enterovirus Network (ENPEN) which evaluates the importance of enterovirus infections and monitors for their emergence together with collaborators from over 30 European countries. During COVID-19 pandemic, she was involved with setting up SARS-CoV-2 testing of convalescent plasma donors in England, and the related international REMAP-CAP trial. She also has wide interests in molecular epidemiology and next generation sequencing. 

She currently leads the Blood Safety research team within the NIHR funded Blood and Transplant Research Unit at the University of Oxford. This research focuses on transfusion transmitted viral infections aiming to improve our understanding of current risks and preparedness for emerging pathogens.  

Prof Harvala is widely published in the field of medical, transfusion and public health virology (over 130 peer reviewed publications, h-index 48). She is an executive committee member of European Society for Clinical Virology and the programme committee member for the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and infectious Diseases. She also chaired the WHO R&D Blueprint group on Picornaviruses and was recently appointed to the WHO European Region Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication.