Companion collection - Interviews

Barbara studied veterinary nursing at Rodbaston Agricultural College before joining Liverpool Veterinary School where she became Head Nurse, eventually returning to Rodbaston as a lecturer. She established the College of Animal Welfare, has been President of BVNA and was the first VN to chair the RCVS VN Committee.

Clare Rusbridge started at Glasgow Veterinary School when she was just 16. She worked at the University of Pennsylvania, spent time in general practice in Cambridgeshire and then specialized in neurology. She was presented with the J.A. Wight Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to the welfare of companion animals at Congress 2011.

Sue Shaw grew up and trained in Australia before moving to the post of senior lecturer at the University of Bristol. She set up the Acarus Unit for investigating arthropod-borne infections and has been chairman of the BSAVA Scientific Committee.

Philip Lhermette took 6 years to get a place at veterinary school, finally graduating in 1982. He has since pioneered many minimally invasive techniques and is Editor of the BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Endoscopy and Endosurgery.

Professor John Cooper graduated from Bristol in 1966 and after a postgraduate qualification in tropical veterinary has worked in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean including a period in Rwanda working with mountain gorillas.

Sandy graduated from Edinburgh in 1969 where he returned as a researcher at the Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine. In 1980 he moved to Liverpool as a lecturer and stayed there for the rest of his career. He was elected president of the RCVS in 2009.

Rob Thomas graduated from Bristol in 1974 and after a brief period of mixed practice in the Channel Islands moved to Barton Veterinary Hospital. He’s still there and has cultivated an interest in cardiology leading to a steady referral case load. He’s now the chief examiner for the Certificate of Veterinary Cardiology.

Freda Scott-Park grew up in Kenya and went to vet school at the Royal Dick. She now lives on the banks of Loch Lomond; she became President of the BSAVA in 2003 and went on to become BVA President.

John bought his first practice in Plymouth in 1969; by the time he retired in 2007 it was a 12 vet, 5-centre practice with a veterinary hospital base. He was President of the BSAVA in 1984/5 as well as holding many other representative positions in the profession.