Professor Joe Brownlie qualified as a veterinary surgeon from Bristol University in 1967 and after a short spell in General Practice, undertook and was awarded a PhD in 1972 on “The isolation and characterisation of antimicrobial proteins from bovine milk”. After working at the Institute of Animal Health for 26 years, he joined the Royal Veterinary College in 1995 as Professor of Veterinary Pathology, and was Head of Department between 1996 and 2003.

He is currently appointed as the veterinary expert on the National Expert Panel for New & Emerging Infections and also Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Biosecurity in UK Research Laboratories. In 2005 he was appointed veterinary expert member of the Co-ordination Team of Prof Sir David King’s Foresight programme on Detection and Identification of Infectious Diseases’ Programme. He has been Veterinary Consultant to a number of organisations, most notably the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) during the 2001 FMDV Outbreak. During that time he was co-opted to the Chief Government Scientist’s Group as veterinary academic with detailed knowledge of the disease in veterinary species.

He is an internationally recognised expert and has worked with many governments i.e. Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East. He has initiated and Chairs the National Strategy Group for BVD virus Control and is committed to educate, co-ordinate and deliver a voluntary programme on BVD Control across the UK.  His 3 pilot regional control schemes will be the basis for a future national programme. He has recently been made Chairman of Trustee’s of the Institute of Animal Health (IAH) and, in that position, will oversee, in the coming years, the redevelopment of the IAH as a national resource for veterinary science and surveillance.