Veterinary Epidemiology @ Melbourne

Our mission is to generate new knowledge and techniques that can lead to improvements in animal health with an emphasis on emerging areas of inquiry, particularly those that cross disciplinary boundaries.

The group’s remit covers a wide range of international, national and local animal health matters, including:

• Epidemiological support for emergency animal disease preparedness and response (including foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever, classical swine fever, lumpy skin disease, equine influenza, canine rabies and avian influenza); and
• Epidemiological support for a range of endemic and emerging health and welfare issues in farmed livestock, companion animals and wildlife, with a special emphasis on zoonoses.

Working with staff from the microbiology and parasitology groups within the Melbourne Veterinary School we provide the link that allows newly developed diagnostic techniques to be deployed with confidence at the population level.

An emerging field of investigation is 'animal welfare epidemiology' which has developed through collaboration with colleagues from the Animal Welfare Science Centre.

A broad range of expertise is represented within the Centre, including veterinary and agricultural sciences, database development and management, geographic information systems, biostatistics, and quantitative epidemiology. Our group works closely with Agriculture Victoria, the Victorian Department of Health and the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.