Richard Whittington

Senior Research Officer and Professor Emeritus

Qualifications
1980 BVSc (Hons 1, University Medal)
1987 MACVSc
1994 PhD
2008 GAICD
2010 FASM

Career History
1980 – 1983        Veterinary practice
1984 – 2002        NSW Government Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Service
2002 – present   The University of Sydney

Professional Distinctions
2002 Ian Clunies Ross Award, Australian College of Veterinary Scientists
Specialist registration in Veterinary Pathobiology
Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology

Research Interests
Richard aims to improve understanding of host-pathogen-environment interactions leading to effective disease control strategies. He has been involved in aquatic animal health health since 1984. He graduated from The University of Sydney in 1980 and spent several years in veterinary practice on the NSW south coast and in the United Kingdom before undergoing training in veterinary pathology. Following five years as a diagnostic pathologist Richard commenced research full time at the Veterinary Research Station, Glenfield and Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, working in microbiology, virology, immunology and epidemiology of economically significant diseases of aquatic and terrestrial animals.

Richard was appointed Chair of Farm Animal Health at the University of Sydney in 2002,  and in 2017 Senior Research Officer and Professor Emeritus. He led research on infectious diseases and his multidisciplinary activity encompasses epidemiology, diagnostic test development and validation, biosecurity, import risk analysis for aquatic animal health, and the impact of viral infections on aquaculture and biodiversity. He was responsible for NATA accreditation of the infectious diseases laboratories at Camden, the first in an Australian veterinary school. Major studies involve vaccine development, molecular studies of viruses and bacteria, immune responses and pathology in individual animals and animal populations. Richard also led aquatic animal health projects for poverty alleviation and food security in Indonesia for ACIAR. He taught in veterinary public health (epidemiology), principles of disease, microbiology, virology, pathology, ruminant health, and aquatic animal health and he was the inaugural chair of the Veterinary Public Health Management masters degree program. Richard was OIE-nominated technical expert on EHN virus and ranavirus and provided the OIE international reference laboratories for these diseases. He was a long term member of Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram Scientific Advisory Committee and represented Australian Universities on the Sub-Committee for Aquatic Animal Health, stepping down from these roles in 2017. He is member of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (Iridoviruses).

Richard  is a member of Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute (Sydney ID) https://www.sydney.edu.au/infectious-diseases, Sydney Institute of Agriculture https://www.sydney.edu.au/agriculture/, Sydney South-East Asia Centre https://sydney.edu.au/sydney-southeast-asia-centre/ and Sydney Marine Studies Institute https://www.sydney.edu.au/science/our-research/research-centres/marine-studies-institute.html. He is a member of  international scientific committees.