Richard Kock - Biography#

Richard Kock has spent 44 years as a veterinary scientist focused on One Health, wildlife health and disease focused on Africa and Asia. His career included clinical veterinary practice and clinical/research work with non-domestic animals with the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London (ZSL) both captive and free ranging wildlife. He took a secondment to Kenya in 1990s which extended for a decade and a half, working in the Kenya Wildlife Services in Nairobi Kenya (parastatal wildlife authority) to set up a veterinary department, then to the African Union InterAfricanBureau for Animal Resources (panAfrican based in Nairobi) focused on eradication of rinderpest virus and control of other epidemic diseases at the wildlife livestock human interface across Africa. After returning to the UK he focused on work in Asia, Middle East and Africa as a Conservation Programme Manager at ZSL. He then took up a position in 2011 as Professor Wildlife Health and Emerging Diseases Royal Veterinary College London. He retired in 2022. He has worked closely with London School Hygiene and Tropical Diseases including establishing a joint One Health Masters programme and a Pandemics Preparedness course and, University College London (EDCTPF - PANDORA project). He is vice president of the (Global) Wildlife Disease Association (WDA). He is now an independent scholar and consultant, lectures in UK and internationally, reviews publications and is Chief Editor with Cambridge University Press for the journal Research Directions – One Health. He is Chief Editor for development of a new comprehensive 3 volume text on Zoonosis and Zoonotic Origin Disease by Elsevier. He consults regularly with National and International health agencies and governments