- Date posted: 22nd April 2024
One Health champion wins WVA vet of the year award
“I am absolutely thrilled and shocked to receive this award!” – Simon Doherty.
Simon Doherty has been named Veterinarian of the Year 2024 at the World Veterinary Association (WVA) Global Veterinary Awards.
The veterinary surgeon, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, collected the prize at the 39th WVA Congress in Cape Town, South Africa.
Dr Doherty, who had previously been announced as the winner of the One Health category, beat the winners of the Animal Welfare, Medicine Stewardship and and Veterinary Education categories to win the overall award.
The WVA awards, which have evolved from the WVA Animal Welfare Awards, also recognised a veterinary student of the year.
The other category winners were:
Animal Welfare: Sheilah Robertson (USA)
Medicine Stewardship: Shane Renwick (Canada)
Veterinary Education: Azmi Lila (Malaysia)
Student of the Year (supported by the International Veterinary Students’ Association): Yuri Victor Calvo (Brazil).
A former president of the British Veterinary Association and the founding chair of the UK One Health Coordination Group, Dr Doherty works as a senior lecturer in animal health at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Dr Doherty said: “I am absolutely thrilled and shocked to receive this award! When I talk about One Health I always discuss it in the context of One Health in Action. Action requires many people to be ‘hands on’ and this accolade is fantastic recognition of the many team efforts of which I have been part of and offered leadership to.”
Speaking on behalf of the WVA, immediate past president Rafael Laguens said: “It has been a great pleasure to be able to meet in person with all the winners of the different categories of the first edition of the Global Veterinary Awards at the award ceremony, which has embodied a global celebration of the diversity, values and significance of the veterinary profession, personified by the work of each of the winners.”
Image © World Veterinary Association