• University of London

  • • PhD Field Of StudyVeterinary Pathology & Epidemiology

    • Dates attended 2001

• The University of Glasgow

  • • Bachelor's Degree Field Of StudyVeterinary Medicine and Surgery

    • Dates attended 1982 – 1987

• Hamilton Grammar [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_Grammar_School ] / High School

  • • Dates attended 1976 – 1982

• St Johns Primary

  • • Dates attended 1969 – 1976

• 2015–present Deputy Director of Science, Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London

• 2007–2014 Deputy Head, Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London

• 2013–present Visiting Professor, Universidad Andres Bello, Chile

• 2011–present Honorary Professor, University College London

• 2011–present Professor of Wildlife Epidemiology, Institute of Zoology, London

• 2004–2010 Reader in Wildlife Epidemiology, Institute of Zoology, London

• 2001–present Head of Wildlife Epidemiology, Institute of Zoology, London

• 1988–2001 Veterinary Pathologist, Institute of Zoology, London

• 2016–present Fellow, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons

• 1987–2016 Member, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons

• 2010–2015 Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award

• 2001 PhD, University of London

• 1987 BVMS, University of Glasgow

I joined the Institute of Zoology in 1988 as Veterinary Pathologist for the Zoological Society of London; a job which involved carrying out diagnostic pathology on zoo and wild animal species. Since 2001 I have led a team of researchers at the Institute of Zoology who work on wildlife diseases, with particular reference to biodiversity conservation, on a wide range of animal taxa: from snails to whales.

Research Interests

My main area of interest is the study of disease threats to wildlife conservation, although I am also interested in host-parasite interactions and co-evolution, and in wildlife disease and comparative pathology per se. One of my main projects is the investigation of catastrophic vulture declines in India with colleagues at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds , the Bombay Natural History Society , the Venkateshwara Hatcheries Poultry Diagnostic and Research Centre and the National Bird of Prey Centre. Much of this work has been funded by the RSPB and we recently won a grant from the Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species to further our studies on this major ecological and socio-economic problem.

Smuggled pangolins have been found to carry viruses closely related to the one sweeping the world.

Scientists say the sale of the animals in wildlife markets should be strictly prohibited to minimise the risk of future outbreaks.

Pangolins are the most-commonly illegally trafficked mammal, used both as food and in traditional medicine.

In research published in the journal Nature, researchers say handling these animals requires "caution".

And they say further surveillance of wild pangolins is needed to understand their role in the risk of future transmission to humans.

Two groups of coronaviruses related to the virus behind the human pandemic have been identified in Malayan pangolins smuggled into China, said lead researcher Dr Tommy Lam of The University of Hong Kong.

"Although their role as the intermediate host of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak remains to be confirmed, sale of these wild animals in wet markets should be strictly prohibited to avoid future zoonotic [animal to human] transmission," he told BBC News.

Bats also contain coronaviruses, which are closer still to the human virus, except in one key area - the part that helps the virus invade cells.

"This tells us that viruses that look pretty adapted to humans are present in wildlife," said co-researcher, Prof Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney. "Bats are certainly involved, pangolins may be, but it is very possible that other animal species are involved as well."

Exactly how the virus jumped from a wild animal, presumably a bat, to another animal and then humans remains a mystery. The horseshoe bat and the pangolin have both been implicated, but the precise sequence of events is unknown.

Finding the virus in smuggled Malayan pangolins raised the question of where they contracted the virus, said Dr Lam. Was it from bats along the trafficking route to China or in their native habitats in Southeast Asia?

Calls to end illegal wildlife trade

Conservationists say it would be devastating if the discovery led to further persecution of the endangered mammal. The animal's scales are in high demand for use in traditional Chinese medicine, while pangolin meat is considered a delicacy.

"This is the time for the international community to pressure their governments to end illegal wildlife trade," said Elisa Panjang of Cardiff University, a pangolin conservation officer at the Danau Girang Field Centre in Malaysia.

China has moved to ban the consumption of meat from wild animals in the wake of the outbreak. Similar moves are being considered in Vietnam.

Prof Andrew Cunningham of Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said it was important not to jump to conclusions from the paper. "The source of the detected coronavirus really is unknown - it might have been a natural pangolin virus or have jumped from another species between capture and death."

And Dr Dan Challender, of the University of Oxford, said pangolins are known to host various strains of coronaviruses. "Identifying the source of SARS-CoV-2 is important to understand the emergence of the current pandemic, and in preventing similar events in the future," he said.