RCVS congratulates members receiving 2023 New Year Honours

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the regulator of the veterinary professions, is congratulating two of its members who received 2023 New Year Honours.

Chief Veterinary Officer for the UK and RCVS Council member Dr Christine Middlemiss MRCVS (pictured) was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in recognition of services to the veterinary and farming sector, while Susan Cunningham MRCVS, a past-president of the North of Ireland Veterinary Association and the Northern Ireland branch of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Dr Melissa Donald MRCVS, President of the RCVS, said: “Many congratulations to both Christine and Susan for the recognition of their individual contributions to the veterinary professions and animal health and welfare. The conferring of these honours also demonstrates the wider significance of the veterinary professions in UK society, whether it be in agriculture, food safety, or public health.

“As the lead vet at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and a member of our governing Council, we work closely with Christine on a number of matters, including on the development of policy, on our legislative reform agenda, and on the current workforce issues facing the profession as a whole, and public health vets in particular. She is an excellent public servant in charge of a wide-ranging and very important brief, and we commend her for this honour. Susan, a Belfast-based small animal vet, helped lead the veterinary profession in Northern Ireland throughout the very tough year of 2020, and we also commend her for this amazing achievement.”