[3][4][5] He has done important work in the study of the evolution of HIV-1, which demonstrated the extensive genetic diversity of the virus by 1960, fully refuting the contaminated polio vaccine theory as the origin of the AIDS pandemic.
[6][7] In May 2021, Worobey signed a letter, published in the journal Science, calling for a thorough investigation into the origin of SARS-CoV-2, including the possibility of a lab leak.
[8] Then, after thoroughly analyzing the available data, Worobey concluded that the virus most likely originated with animals sold at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market and subsequently jumped to humans.
[9][10][11] Worobey grew up in Salmon Arm, British Columbia and earned his bachelors in biological sciences from Simon Fraser University.
[2][12][13] Worobey joined the evolutionary biology group in the zoology department at Oxford, where he worked with Eddie Holmes and Paul Harvey, who served as his thesis advisors.