Vanessa Barrs, BVSc(hons) Ph.D., MVetClinStud, GradCertEd (Higher Ed) FANZCVS (Feline Medicine)
BOCHK Chair Professor of Veterinary Medicine
Chair Professor of Companion Animal Health and Disease
Dean of the Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences
City University’s Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, Hong Kong
Professor Vanessa Barrs is Chair Professor of Companion Animal Health and Disease at City University’s Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences. She graduated from the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Veterinary Science in 1990 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science. Vanessa worked in companion animal practice in Sydney for several years before specializing in Feline Medicine and was awarded Fellowship of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in 2000. Professor Barrs completed a Master’s degree in bacteriology and a PhD in one-health mycology at the University of Sydney, supported by an Australian Government Endeavour Research Fellowship.
Vanessa was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine at the University of Sydney in 2004, where she was Department Head of Small Animal Medicine for almost 15 years and also Professor of Feline Medicine & Infectious Diseases. Other senior leadership roles have included a four-year term as Director of the University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Sydney (UVTHS), and Advisory Board member of the Marie Bashir Institute of Infectious Diseases & Biosecurity, a One-Health transdisciplinary research institute at the University of Sydney.
Professor Barrs has broad research interests in infectious diseases, especially in mycology and virology. While investigating cases of unusual respiratory disease in cats, Professor Barrs discovered an emerging agent of invasive aspergillosis of animals and humans in 2013, Aspergillus felis. Her research has shed light on clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of disease caused by this pathogen in cats, and more broadly on antifungal resistance in both Aspergillus fumigatus and cryptic species in section Fumigati.
Professor Barrs also investigates viral outbreaks, including recent re-emergent outbreaks of feline parvoviral disease as well as severe outbreaks of feline calicivirus virulent systemic disease. She uses metagenomics and metatranscriptomics as tools to better understand viromes in cats and co-pathogens.
Julia Beatty, BSc(hons) BVetMed PhD FANZCVS (feline med) GradCertEd (Higher Ed) FRCVS GAICD Chair Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Infectious Diseases
City University’s Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, Hong Kong
Dr. Beatty graduated from the RVC in 1989 and has worked in shelter, primary and referral practice in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong. She holds a PhD in virology from the University of Glasgow, Fellowship of the ANZCVS in Feline Medicine, is an RCVS-recognized Specialist in Feline Medicine and was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for meritorious contribution to knowledge.
Jules’s research on companion animal infectious diseases has led to the discovery of several novel feline viruses, including the feline hepatitis-B virus. In her current role as Chair Professor in Veterinary Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, CityU, she led the establishment of the first veterinary clinical department in Hong Kong. Jules is also the founding Director of the Centre for Animal Health at Welfare at CityU, Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney, and Adjunct Professor of Small Animal Medicine at Texas A&M University.
Andrew Bugbee, DVM, DACVIM (Small Animal Internal Medicine)
Clinical Associate Professor
Texas A&M University, USA
Dr. Bugbee is originally from Dallas, Texas. He received both his bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences as well as his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He completed a small animal medicine and surgery rotating internship and an internal medicine residency at the University of Georgia, becoming a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in 2013. After residency he was on faculty at Purdue University before returning to the University of Georgia in 2014. During his time at UGA, he Co-founded and Directed the UGA Veterinary Diabetes Clinic in addition to his role as an Associate Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine. In July 2023, he joined the faculty of the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences as an Associate Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine and is developing the TAMU Veterinary Endocrinology Clinic and research program. Dr. Bugbee was elected to the Board of the Society for Comparative Endocrinology in 2019 and is currently serving as the Secretary and Treasurer. He also serves as a Co-Chair of the AAHA Endocrinology Guidelines Task Force. His current research interests are focused on small animal endocrinology, specifically diabetes mellitus and canine hypercortisolism.
Lynelle Johnson, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM)
Professor, Department of Medicine & Epidemiology
University of California, Davis, USA
Dr. Johnson received her veterinary degree from The Ohio State University, was in private practice in New York, and completed a Master’s Degree and residency program at the University of Illinois. She received her Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Missouri.
Dr. Johnson’s research is focused on validation of diagnostic tests for respiratory diseases as well as identifying novel respiratory conditions. She runs a busy respiratory service and routinely performs endoscopic and interventional procedures. Dr. Johnson has published multiple articles and book chapters on respiratory topics and a second edition of her textbook, Canine and Feline Respiratory Medicine.
Jonathan Lidbury BVMS, MRCVS, PhD, DACVIM, DECVIM-CA
Associate Professor, Small Animal Internal Medicine
Associate Director for Clinical Services, Gastrointestinal Laboratory
Rob and Roxann Bilger Chair in Feline Hepatology
Texas A&M University, USA
Dr. Lidbury received his veterinary degree from the University of Glasgow, Scotland in 2002. He worked for several years in general and referral practices in the United Kingdom before completing an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the California Animal Hospital. In 2007, Jonathan joined the Gastrointestinal Laboratory, Texas A&M University as a Ph.D. student and he started his residency in small animal internal medicine in 2008. In 2011, Jonathan achieved board certification with the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. He is interested in all areas of small animal gastroenterology and is working to develop new non-invasive tests for liver disease in cats and dogs. Jonathan currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Veterinary Small Animal Clinical Sciences at Texas A&M University. In 2021 Jonathan was named as Rob and Roxann Bilger Chair in Feline Hepatology.
David J. Maggs BVSc Hons, Diplomate ACVO
Professor Emeritus, Comparative Ophthalmology
University of California, Davis, USA
Following graduation from the University of Melbourne in 1988, Dr. Maggs spent 5 years in mixed practice throughout Australia, England, Scotland, and Wales. He then completed small animal and equine internships at Colorado State University, and a research fellowship and comparative ophthalmology residency at the University of Missouri. He joined the faculty at the University of California-Davis in 2000. He is the author of Slatter’s Fundamentals of Veterinary Ophthalmology (the 7th edition of which is due out soon) and is fascinated by the feline eye and its often unique pathology. David’s major interests are surface ocular disease, with a particular focus on the management of cats with feline herpesvirus.
Megan Sleeper, VMD, DACVIM (Cardiology)
Clinical Professor, Cardiology
Cardiology Service Chief
University of Florida, USA
Dr. Sleeper VMD graduated from the University of Pennsylvania veterinary school cum laude and completed a rotating internship in medicine and surgery at Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center. After becoming board certified in cardiology, she worked in the section of cardiology at Penn until 2015 when she became a clinical professor of cardiology at the University of Florida veterinary school. She has published numerous papers including over 80 peer reviewed original papers, over 50 review papers or case reports, and 4 text books. Primary research interests include inherited heart diseases, in particular inherited cardiomyopathies, comparative cardiology and therapeutic gene transfer. She is on the editorial or review board of 11 journals and has served on the research (2008-2011 and 2019 to the 2022) and examination (2005-2008) committees for the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Cardiology).
Jörg Steiner, med.vet., Dr.med.vet., Ph.D., DACVIM, DECVIM-CA, AGAF
Regents Professor, University Distinguished Professor, Small Animal Internal Medicine
Dr. Mark Morris Chair in Small Animal Gastroenterology & Nutrition
Director, Gastrointestinal Laboratory (GI Lab)
Texas A&M University, USA
Jörg Steiner received his veterinary degree from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany in 1992. He did an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the University of Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1993 and a residency in small animal internal medicine at Purdue University from 1993 to 1996. He received his Dr.med.vet. degree from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany in 1995 in recognition of research on feline trypsin and feline trypsin-like immunoreactivity. In 1996, he achieved board certification with the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. In 2000, Dr. Steiner received a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University for his work on canine digestive lipases and their use for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal disorders in the dog. In 2012, was recognized as a Fellow of the American Gastroenterology Association. He is currently a Regents Professor and University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery and the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at Texas A&M University. In 2016, Dr. Steiner was named the Dr. Mark Morris Chair in Small Animal Gastroenterology and Nutrition. He also serves as Director of the Gastrointestinal Laboratory at Texas A&M University and is involved in a wide variety of research in small animal gastroenterology. He has authored or co-authored more than 400 peer-reviewed articles, 100 book chapters, and 500 research abstracts. In addition to his work at the School of Veterinary Medicine, he also serves on the Executive Committee of Distinguished Professors and as the Faculty Liaison of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University. He also currently serves as the President of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.