Professor Susan Dawson has been elected Chair of the Veterinary Schools Council.

She will guide the Council as it works across the sector to build and promote UK veterinary education and research. Among many workstreams this will include working with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons on improving graduate outcomes, coordinating with medicine and dentistry on antimicrobial stewardship, and keeping government informed of the benefit of EU staff and research funding as we enter critical stages of the Brexit process. She is the first woman to lead the organisation.

Professor Dawson is Dean of the Institute of Veterinary Science at the University of Liverpool and has a background in infectious disease and public health. She is a council member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, chairing its education committee, and is a non-executive director at Pets at Home.

On her appointment, Professor Dawson said, ‘I am delighted to have been chosen to lead the Council over the next period of its development and am keen to take forward the themes identified in VSC’s Strategic Plan. These include leadership, recruitment and research, as well as curriculum and assessment. My experience in education matters will be helpful as we continue working with the Royal College and employers to ensure that graduate outcomes are appropriate to today’s workplace.’

Professor Dawson has succeeded Professor Ewan Cameron as Chair. Professor Cameron said, ‘VSC has made great progress in the last three years, with its links with other bodies in the sector now deeper than ever before and its committees of vet school experts generating work ranging from admissions guidance to research mentorship. The Council will now be in excellent hands with Susan and I look forward to its continuing positive influence on veterinary education.’