Public and Population Health
The Veterinary Public and Population health team is a strong multidisciplinary group that incorporates experts in Veterinary Public Health, Animal Welfare and Ethics, Biosecurity, Wildlife Health Management and Conservation, and Veterinary Epidemiology. The members of this team share the common objective of securing a healthy interaction between the public and animals.
Veterinary Public Health has been defined by FAO/WHO/OIE as "the sum of all contributions to the physical, mental and social well-being of humans through an understanding and application of veterinary science". Veterinary Public Health thus embraces the following areas of knowledge: diagnosis, surveillance, epidemiology, control, prevention and elimination of zoonoses and of diseases that threaten food security and social cohesion; protection of food (including meat and milk) for human consumption; food and meat science; environmental protection; animal welfare standards; and the social and behavioural aspects of human-animal interactions.
The team is led by Prof Michael Reichel, a registered Australasian and European veterinary specialist in Veterinary Public Health with a strong background and interest in veterinary diagnostics (serology, application of molecular tests and their validation) and vaccines.
The Animal Welfare and Ethics experts include Drs Susan Hazel and Alexandra Whittaker:
Dr Susan Hazel is a veterinarian with a strong research experience in Human-Animal Interactions and Animal Welfare. She is currently supervising several graduate students and coordinates the first year course in Animal Behaviour, Welfare and Ethics.
Dr Alex Whittaker is a European veterinary specialist in Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law. She has a special interest in comparative medicine and the role of ethics and regulation as applied to all aspects of animal use. Her research interests lie in animal welfare assessment and investigation of practical applications to refine routine husbandry and procedures applied to animals.
The increasingly important and intertwined issues of wildlife ecology, management, and health are covered by two members of the team:
Dr Philip Stott is a veterinarian whose interests have extended to wildlife ecology and management, and range from endangered species and reptiles through to pest species of mammals. His particular focus have been the hare and the tortoise, but he has also studied foxes (both as native wildlife in Canada and as pest in Australia), rabbits, pigs, tarsiers, wallabies and deer.
Dr Wayne Boardman is a wildlife veterinarian who has worked in conservation programs, zoos and the wildlife field for many years. His main area of interest relates to wildlife disease ecology, conservation medicine, emerging infectious diseases of wildlife and veterinary biosecurity.
Last, but not least, Dr Charles Caraguel. He is a veterinarian and epidemiologist who focuses his interest into the health management of animal populations. He likes to develop and assess methodologies to detect and measure diseases in populations to, ultimately, enhance the prevention and the control of the targeted diseases. Charles' favourite field of application is the fast growing aquaculture industry in which he focuses most of his research.
