ARAV Scientific Committee

Dr. Bogan received his DVM from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1994.  He is currently the owner operator of a mobile practice, The Critter Fixer of Central Florida, and is the Chief Veterinary Officer of Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens.  Additionally, Dr. Bogan is an associate editor for Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery and is currently serving on the Executive Board for the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians.

Paul M. Gibbons earned a DVM at the University of Illinois, completed a clinical residency in avian, herpetological, and non-domestic mammal medicine at University of California–Davis, and obtained a Master of Science from UC-Davis emphasizing diagnostic assay validation and wildlife disease ecology. He worked in mixed animal practice, founded an exotic species specialty service, contracted with the US Geological Survey and US Fish and Wildlife Service, and directed the Turtle Conservancy, an international conservation NGO with an AZA-certified conservation breeding facility. Dr. Gibbons is a founding diplomate and certified specialist in ABVP Reptile and Amphibian Practice, and he held ABVP Avian Practice certification from 2002-2012. He served as President of the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians, as Program Leader of the AZA Ploughshare Tortoise SSP, on the Steering Committee of the AZA Chelonian Advisory Group, on the Steering Committee of the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, and as a member of IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group. His work is published in numerous scientific journals, conference proceedings, textbooks, and lay periodicals, and he has been an invited educator at conferences and conservation facilities around the world. He was the 2009 recipient of the Exotic DVM of the Year Award. Currently, he assists the Center for Biological Diversity and practices at Avian and Exotic Veterinary Care in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Jo qualified from Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in 2003 and spent time in mixed, small animal, exotic and wildlife practice before undertaking a residency in Exotic Animal and Wildlife medicine back at R(D)SVS. She obtained her RCVS Diploma in Zoological Medicine in 2012 and ECZM specialist status in herpetology in 2014. She is currently Head of the Exotics Service at the Royal Veterinary College in London, where she has established the exotics clinical service and is developing student teaching.

Dr. Mader received his DVM from the University of California, Davis in 1986.  In addition, he completed a Residency in Primate and Zoo animal medicine.  He is a consulting veterinarian for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Zoo, the Key West Aquarium, Dynasty Marine, the Sea Turtle Hospital, the Everglades Alligator Farm and the Theater of the Sea.  Dr. Mader is an internationally acclaimed lecturer and is on the review boards of several scientific journals.  He has published numerous articles in scientific and veterinary journals, national magazines, and, is the author/editor and co-editor of three textbooks on Reptile Medicine and Surgery.­­

Rachel Marschang studied veterinary medicine and received her doctorate from the Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen, Germany and received her habilitation in Environmental and Animal Hygiene and Veterinary Virology from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. She has been studying infectious diseases in reptiles since 1997. She is a diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (herpetology) as well as a certified specialist for microbiology (FTÄ Mikrobiologie) and for reptile medicine (ZB Reptilien). She is the past president of the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians (ARAV), the chair of the herpetology specialty of the ECZM, and the European representative of the Global Ranavirus Consortium (GRC). She has written multiple book chapters and peerreviewed papers on reptile medicine as well as presenting at many international conferences. She is currently working as a consultant veterinarian for reptile diagnostics at Laboklin GmbH & Co. KG in Bad Kissingen, Germany and as an adjunct professor (Privatdozentin) at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany.

In 1996 Karina was awarded a DVM degree from Munich, Germany, followed by her doctoral thesis in 2003 on mycoplasma and herpesviruses investigations in free-ranging and captive Mediterranean Tortoises in France and Morroco. In 2019 she was awarded a habilitation and Venia Legendi on “Diagnostic Imaging in Reptiles – Specific anatomy and morphology of different organ systems using current imaging techniques”.
Since 2010 she has served as service chief and clinician of the Department of Reptiles at the Clinic for Small Mammals, Reptiles and Birds, Veterinary University Hannover, Germany. Additionally she provides lectures on reptilian and amphibian medicine to veterinary students and presents clinical papers at national and international conferences. She is a Diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM, herpetology) and is a certified specialist for reptiles and amphibians (Fachtierärztin Reptil; ZB Reptilien/Amphibien). Karina is the chair of the ARAV International Committee since 2012, and member of the ICARE steering committee since 2013.

Francesco Origgi graduated from the Veterinary School of the University of Milan, Italy, in 1994. After few years of private practice (exotics) he was enrolled in the Graduate School of the University of Florida in 1998 where he completed a PhD focusing on the development of serological and diagnostics tests for chelonian herpesviruses under Dr Elliott Jacobson, and graduated in 2001. After a post-doc at the S. Raffaele Scientific institute in Milan, Italy (molecular virology) he returned to Florida in 2006, where he completed a residency program in veterinary anatomic pathology, becoming a board certified pathologist in 2009. From 2008 to 2009, he also served as staff pathologist at Disney’s animal programs (Disney’s animal kingdom). From 2010 to early 2021 we was the head of the wildlife diagnostics at the Centre for Fish and Wildlife Health of the University of Bern, Switzerland. Since April 2021, he joined the Institute of Animal Pathology of the same University, where his main interest is Zoo animal pathology. Francesco is also board certified by the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (ACVM-virology) and a diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM-herpetology).

Dr Lionel Schilliger graduated from the french National Veterinary School of Nantes (Oniris) in 1989 and has been working with dogs, cats and reptiles ever since. He certified in canine and feline nutrition in 1992 (E.N.V.A), in clinical hematology and biochemistry of small companion animals in 1998 (E.N.V.T), and in canine and feline internal medicine in 2011 (Vet Agro Sup). He is a Diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM – Herpetology), chair of the herpetology specialty of the ECZM, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP – Reptile and Amphibian Practice). He is also a representative member of his country in the International Committee of the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians (ARAV). Lionel Schilliger works as a private practitioner in Paris (he’s the owner of the Veterinary Clinic of Auteuil Village) and at the National Veterinary School of Alfort (E.N.V.A).

Endre graduated at the University of Veterinary Science in Budapest in 1995 and immediately started as a zoo veterinarian in the same year at the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden, where he is currently the Director of Veterinary Services and Conservation. Together with his team they are the official veterinarians in numerous current and former Life Plus conservation programs, dealing with the Hungarian meadow viper, Imperial Eagle and endangered rodents of Hungary. He is also involved in the conservation medicine of other high profile species, such as the Przewalski’s horse, Eurasian otter and the Eurasian beaver. He is one of the vet advisors in the Elephant TAG, Przewalski’s horse EEP and Red panda EEP. Currently, he is the Vice-Chairman of the Hungarian Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians (EAZWV Hungarian Section) and the EAZWV itself. He owns a DESMAN (Diploma on Endangered Species Management, issued by the University of Canterbury, Kent and completed in Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust), and have the titles of a Hungarian Specialist in Companion Animal Medicine and a Hungarian Specialist in Exotic Animal Medicine. He completed a PhD in Great Bustard medicine and became a Diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (Zoo Health Management) in 2012.

János received his DVM diploma in 1996. His PhD degree was completed in 2006. He is full member of European College of Zoological medicine since 2009. His main job was at Department of Pathology and Forensic Veterinary of Faculty of Veterinary Sciences between 1996 and 2012 where he is examined all of exotic and wild animal carcasses and samples. He established a new department in 2014 as Department of Exotic Animal and Wildlife Medicine where he is head of department. Between 2012 and 2013 Dr. Gál was employed in Morocco where he organised some local wildlife projects as a senior veterinarian. He has teaching activity in United Arab Emirates at College of Food and Agriculture from 2018 and at University of Padova (Italy) from 2019 as visiting professor. He is author of more than 200 scientific papers and couple of captures of scientific books. His research fields are clinicopathology of reptiles and zoo animals. He is actively collaborating with pheasant and partridge farms as a consultant vet and he organises some research programs there. His hobby is the arachnofaunistic examination area of Nord-Africa and Middle-East.