ECZM Scientific Committee

Livia Benato has worked with rabbits and exotic animals since she graduated in 2002. Livia is a RCVS and EBVS Recognised Specialist in Small Mammal Medicine and works as Small Mammal and Exotics Veterinary Associate at City Vets in Exeter.  Livia is studying towards her PhD in Rabbit Pain and Analgesia at the University of Bristol and she is an affiliate lecturer at the University of Glasgow.

Yedra is a diplomate of the ECZM Zoo Health Management specialty. She graduated from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and gained the MSc in Wild Animal Health from the Royal Veterinary College and ZSL in 2001. She worked in primate sanctuaries in Africa and took part in zoo and wildlife research and conservation projects in Europe, Africa, India before joining the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) as a veterinary officer at London and Whipsnade Zoos for over a decade. Following this, she has worked in several European zoos and is currently an independent zoo and wildlife consultant working for a number of different organizations. Throughout the years she has also collaborated with conservation projects abroad and primate sanctuaries in Africa, where is actively involved in capacity building through workshops and mentoring, and assistance with health evaluations and research.

Highly interested in animal welfare, medicine, and conservation of zoo animals and wildlife, her veterinary research interest is wide and includes contraception and reproductive management as part of ex-situ captive breeding, great ape health and welfare and primate medicine, cardiac biomarkers in zoo species, amphibian medicine, investigation of infectious diseases and the veterinary role as part of the One Health approach. She has presented papers at many national and international conferences and is widely published. She is an associate editor for the Veterinary Record Case Report and the Journal of Veterinary Medicine and Science.

She is co-director of the International Primate Health and Welfare Group (IPHWG), a founder and vice-chair of the EAZA Reproductive Management Group (RMG), and a founder and lead veterinary advisor for the IPHP (International Primate Heart Project). She is also co-chair of the EAZWV Ethics and welfare Working Group, a member of the ECZM Scientific committee, veterinary advisor for the Mangabeys and the Afro-Eurasian Monkey TAG and reproductive advisor of the Hyenid and Canid TAG.

Jauniaux Thierry (DVM, PhD) is associate professor at the department of Pathology, Veterinary Faculty of the University of Liege (Belgium) and diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (Wildlife population health). He is in charge of necropsy and post-mortem investigations related to the health status of marine mammals stranded on the Belgian coastline (since 1991), under agreement with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (OD Nature) and northern part of France (since 1995), by collaboration with the University of La Rochelle (PELAGIS). He is past-Chair of the European Cetacean Society ECS and member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of ECS. He has a total of 120 peer-reviewed publications (h- index 20).

Dr Katja Koeppel graduate from Glasgow University in 2000. She came to South Africa in 2002 and completed her MSc in wildlife in 2004 from the University of Pretoria on probiotics in cheetah. After working in private practice, she joined the Johannesburg Zoo as veterinarian and later head veterinarian until 2015. She received her diplomate from the European College of Zoological Medicine in Zoo Health Management in 2015. She started as senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria and is currently busy with her PhD in oral bait rabies vaccine in black-backed jackals. She is passionate about conservation and the veterinary advisor for the Mabula Southern Ground-Hornbill Project. She is the currently the president of the South African Veterinary Association wildlife group.

Dr. Korbel studied veterinary medicine in Munich (1979 – 1984). After finalizing his post-doc specialization including habilitation on avian ophthalmology and air sac perfusion anaesthesia in 1996 at the Clinic for Birds, University of Munich, Germany, his professional appointments included serving as a guest professor at the Clinic for Poultry at the Vet. Med. University of Vienna, Austria (1998 – 1999) followed by an appointment as an associate professor at the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota, USA (1999 – 2003). Ever since he serves as the head and director of the Clinic for Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Ornamental Fish at the Center for Clinical Veterinary Medicine of the University of Munich, Germany. Rüdiger is a member of the EAAV since 1994, serving as the chairman of the period 2001 through 2003. His professional interests include clinical ophthalmology with special emphasis on visual perception and animal welfare-related aspects, medical photography, orthopedics, anesthesiology, and poultry (ostrich) keeping. Besides he is a member of the German Society for Photography, section technical & medical photography.

Becki Lawson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London. After qualifying from the University of Cambridge in 1997, she began working with treatment and rehabilitation of wildlife casualties and subsequently focused on wildlife disease outbreak investigation and scanning surveillance of various terrestrial and marine species. Her research interest focuses on the epidemiology and impact of disease on free-living wildlife populations.

Antoine Leclerc graduated from Alfort National Veterinary School in 2007 and presented a thesis on avian malaria infections in penguins. After having completed a veterinary internship at La Palmyre Zoo, he has been working as a full-time zoo vet since 2007, at Sigean Zoo, Thoiry Zoo, and Beauval Zoo. He became a diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (ZHM) in 2016.  He is a board member of the French-speaking Zoo Vet Association, member of the Scientific Committee of ECZM, and European veterinary advisor for greater kudus and black lemurs.

Jonas Malmsten is a wildlife veterinarian and researcher at the Department of Wildlife, Fish & Environmental Studies at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and a private consultant in wildlife medicine. After receiving his veterinary degree in Uppsala, Sweden in 2006, he spent 10 years working as a wildlife pathologist and researcher at the Swedish National Veterinary Institute and obtained his PhD in moose reproduction and health in 2014. His main focus areas in the field have been capture/immobilization, reproduction, diseases, and disease epidemiology of terrestrial mammals (ungulates and large carnivores) and birds (raptors), and the role of wildlife species in laboratory animal science.

Dr David McLelland is a zoo and wildlife veterinarian based at Zoos South Australia since 2008. Dr McLelland received his veterinary degree from the University of Sydney in 2001, and completed a residency in Zoo Medicine and Pathology at the Toronto Zoo/University of Guelph in 2007. He is a Member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Zoo Animal Medicine, a Diplomat of the ACZM and ECZM (Zoo Health Management), and a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide.

Dr. Véronique Mentré studied at the National Veterinary School of Maisons-Alfort from which she received her degree in Veterinary Medicine in 2001. She completed an internship in medicine and surgery of domestic carnivores at Maisons-Alfort. She then completed a private internship in exotic animals in Washington DC with Dr. Siemering.  Since 2003, she works as an exclusive exotics vet. She created in 2019 an exclusive exotics clinic outside Paris. She obtained « de facto » recognition for the European College of Zoological Medicine, specialty small mammals in 2014.

Prof. Andrei D. Mihalca, DVM, graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca Romania, in 2002, and in 2007 he obtained his Ph.D. degree in Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases at the same institution. Currently, he is affiliated to the Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Since 2014, he is a Diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine. His main research interests include ecology of vectors and vector-borne diseases, wildlife diseases, tropical parasitology and conservation medicine. He published more than 160 papers in international peer-reviewed journals. He is currently the Chair for Guidelines at the Tropical Council for Companion Animal Parasites, an external consultant for EFSA, ECDC, CITES, WWF and IAEA and a member of the Scientific Committee of ECZM. He coordinated more than 20 research projects, including the European EurNegVec COST Action. He is actively involved in research, conservation medicine and social veterinary medicine projects focused on parasitic and infectious diseases of small animals (dogs and cats) and wildlife across sub-Saharan Africa with previous work done in Kenya, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Central African Republic, and Liberia. Prof. Andrei D. Mihalca is in the editorial board of several peer-reviewed journals, including Parasites & Vectors, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, BMC Veterinary Research, Veterinary Parasitology: Regional studies and Reports etc. In the free time, he is doing wildlife photography and travels.

Michele received her MS and PhD in Immunology, and DVM from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Masters’ in Public Health (MPH) at the University of Florida-Gainesville.  She is also a diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine.  She did her post-doctoral training at San Diego Zoo, then went onto work at several zoos in the U.S. (Los Angeles Zoo, Busch Gardens, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Palm Beach Zoo), including being a Veterinary Manager at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  She moved to South Africa in 2013 and is currently the NRF South African Research Chair in Animal TB at Stellenbosch University, although she is based full-time in Kruger National Park.

Michele is actively involved in wildlife research, particularly focusing on TB, immobilization physiology, and immunology.  She is past president of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, current veterinary advisor for hippos and rhinos for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in the U.S., and the Chair of the Wildlife TB Study Group in South Africa.  She works with veterinarians at zoos and private facilities around the world.

Viktor graduated from the University of Veterinary Science in Budapest, Hungary in 1999. He had been head veterinarian for 6 years at the Exotic Animal Division, Department and Clinic for Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, Budapest. He has been a zoologist since 2007, a specialised veterinarian in exotic animal medicine since 2009, and a diplomate of ECZM (WPH) since 2010. He received his PhD in 2008 on diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities in the veterinary care of bats. After being a zoo veterinarian at Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden from 2003 to 2013, he and his family moved to Germany. Viktor has been the head veterinarian of the Hannover Adventure Zoo, Germany since 2014.

Richard obtained zoology and veterinary science degrees from Liverpool University in 1994, and worked in increasingly exotic animal practice and obtained his RCVS Certificate in Zoological Medicine, with some time working with British Wildlife as well, before starting a residency in Rabbit and Zoo medicine and Surgery at Bristol Zoo. After completing his residency and obtaining his Diploma, he obtained RCVS and ECZM Specialist status in the Zoo Health Management discipline. He lectures at Bristol University and for private veterinary CPD companies, has authored several book chapters, and co-authored 2 textbooks on rabbits, as well as being published on a range of zoo and exotic pet topics.

Bio coming soon…

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.