Stuart Reid elected Vice-President

We are pleased to announce that Professor Stuart Reid, Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, will be our next Vice-President.

Stuart joined RCVS Council in 2005 and has served on a variety of Committees, including as chairman of both the Education Policy and Specialisation Committee and the Veterinary Legislation Working Party. He was elected to the role at the March meeting of RCVS Council.

“It is an honour and privilege to be nominated for the Officer team,” says Stuart. “Having grown up in a veterinary household, the profession, and practice in particular, has been part of my life from as far back as I can remember.

"The opportunity to serve in a leadership role at a time when the profession at large faces so many challenges and our organisation itself is undergoing such fundamental change is as exciting as it is potentially daunting.”

A son of a veterinary surgeon, Stuart graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1987 and began his career in practice in Aberdeenshire.

He completed a PhD in 1992, developing research interests in the application of quantitative epidemiological techniques to diseases of both animals and humans, and was appointed to a joint Chair at the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde in 1996.

The opportunity to serve in a leadership role at a time when the profession at large faces so many challenges and our organisation itself is undergoing such fundamental change is as exciting as it is potentially daunting.

Having worked in Africa, Australia and the USA, Stuart became Dean of Glasgow’s School of Veterinary Medicine in 2005, and Principal of the Royal Veterinary College in 2011.

Since 2001, Stuart has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and is an RCVS Recognised Specialist in veterinary epidemiology, a diplomate, and the first elected President of the European College of Veterinary Public Health.

He has served on numerous committees including the Scottish Science Advisory Committee and Veterinary Products Committee, and has served on six different accreditation visitation teams in the UK and overseas.

He chairs the Trustees of the Donkey Sanctuary and has been awarded the Petplan Charitable Trust Scientific Award, the Wooldridge Memorial Lecture and the McCall Lecture.

“The College’s role as a regulator and standard bearer is at the core of all our activities and I hope that I will be able to bring a comparative view from the profession elsewhere in the world, at the same time as helping us retain the professional continuum from science base to clinical practice,” says Stuart.

“We must broaden awareness in the profession and the public of the work the College does and seek greater engagement at every level.

"It will only be through reaching out that we can be a Council and a profession that reflect the society and communities we serve, fit for purpose and fit for practice in everything we do,” he adds.