Becki Lawson is a wildlife veterinarian based at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). After graduating as a veterinarian from the University of Cambridge, she obtained an MSc in Wild Animal Health from ZSL and the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and her PhD on wild bird disease epidemiology from the University of Liverpool. Her research interest focuses on investigating the impact of disease on wild animal welfare and biodiversity. She is a Diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (Wildlife Population Health) and co-supervises a RVC/ZSL residency programme in this specialty. Becki has been an EWDA member since 2008. In addition to her role as EWDA vice-chair, she is currently secretary of the EWDA Network and serves on the WDA Awards Committee and WDA Student Awards Committee.

Thijs Kuiken is Professor of Comparative Pathology at the Department of Viroscience of the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Past studies have included leptospirosis in free-living rodents and cattle in the Netherlands, diseases and anthropogenic pollutants in marine mammals around the U.K., and Newcastle disease in cormorants in Canada. The current focus of his research is the pathogenesis of respiratory virus infections such as influenza and COVID-19 in humans, and the characterization of emerging viral diseases at the wildlife-human interface.

Aleksija Neimanis is a wildlife pathologist at the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) in Sweden where she is responsible for the Research and Development section at the Department of Pathology and Wildlife Diseases. While studying harbour porpoises in Canada, she became interested in wildlife health. This led her to pursue veterinary training (DVM, University of Guelph) and post-graduate studies in wildlife health and pathology (M.Vet.Sci., University of Saskatchewan; PhD, Swedish University of Agriculture). She is also a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. Aleksija has worked with national wildlife health surveillance programs in Canada and now Sweden for the past 15 years. She was Chair of the Nordic section of the Wildlife Disease Association from 2013 – 2017. Her research interests include infectious diseases of wildlife, lagoviruses and marine mammal health.

Sara Savić works at Scientific Veterinary Institute “Novi Sad” in Serbia, as Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Department for Serology, Immunology and Biochemistry. She obtained her PhD on Lyme disease in ticks and dogs from the University of Novi Sad. While working on diagnostics of zoonotic diseases and with vector borne pathogens, she started working with wildlife. She participated in national programs of wildlife health surveillance, looking for zoonotic pathogens of bacterial origin. During her scientific career she worked on diagnostics and surveillance of zoonotic disease in wildlife, so her research interests include brucellosis, leptospirosis, tuberculosis, Q fever and vector borne diseases in wildlife. Currently she is focused on One Health approach and including wildlife health and emerging diseases of bacterial and parasitic origin into the diagnostic circle. She is also Head of National reference laboratory for Leptospirosis, Q fever and Maedi Visna virus for veterinary medicine in Serbia.

Paul Tavernier runs his own practice, called WILDPÄD, including referred avian cases and consultancy in wildlife issues. Next to avian medicine, -necropsy, -cytology, and -blood parasites, his main interests are in the field of disease surveillance and conservation (CITES, invasive alien species, forensics). He is a board member of the Belgian Wildlife Disease Society, and within the EWDA Network committee he acts as moderator of the EWDA WildList. Believes in a friendly and respectful communication and support between people.

Antonio Lavazza completed a degree in Veterinary Medicine and a Specialization in “Technology and pathology of avian species, lagomorphs and wildlife”, at the University of Milan, Italy. He has worked at the Virology Unit of IZSLER in Brescia (Italy) since 1988. He has been interested in wildlife pathology since he began working on lagomorph disease at the end of 1980 when Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease and European Brown Hare Syndrome first occurred in Europe. At IZSLER he was initially responsible for the Electron Microscopy Lab and since 2014 as Head of the Virology Unit. He acted from 1991 to 1998 as Designed Expert at the OIE Reference Laboratory for RHD and from 2012 to now as Designed Expert at the OIE Reference Laboratory for Myxomatosis. He is responsible for the National Reference Centre for Viral Diseases of Lagomorphs. His main areas of activity include diagnosis, surveillance and control of viral disease of domestic, farmed and wild animals. He is involved in long-term disease monitoring as part of comprehensive management of free-ranging species (especially lagomorphs) and in the framework of regional control/surveillance programs.