Professor Martin Shirley CBE, Director of the Institute for Animal Health, has been made an Honorary Associate of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The award was made by outgoing RCVS President Professor Sandy Trees during the Society' annual general meeting this month in London. The President said that Professor Shirley had been given the award for his "unstinting support of research towards disease control programmes and products, including diagnostic tests and vaccines," These would "influence the ways in which livestock are managed across the world for years to come".
In June Professor Shirley was awarded a CBE for Services to Science in the Queen's Birthday Honours. His research on the protozoan parasite Eimeria, a major cause of poor health and performance in chickens, led him to develop the first attenuate live vaccine to control it. This is now used in over a billion chickens annually to reduce gut disease.
He became Director of the IAH in July 2006, having previously been Deputy Director and Head of the Division of Molecular Biology.