Cavanagh Appointed to Veterinary Committee
UK - Professor David Cavanagh has been appointed to serve on the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) from January 2010 until December 2013.
31 December 2009
2 minute read
The VPC is the independent committee established in 1970 to advise Ministers on the safety, quality, and efficacy of veterinary medicines and to promote the collection of information and investigation relating to suspected adverse reactions to such products.
Members are independent experts in their specialisms. They contribute by their individual expertise and judgement to the advice given by the Committee to the Health and Agriculture Ministers, who act as the Licensing Authority for veterinary medicines.
The new member appointed is Professor David Cavanagh (molecular biologist/geneticist) graduated with a degree in microbiology in 1972 and has specialised in virology having completed research on foot-and-mouth disease virus, influenza virus, infectious bronchitis virus, astroviruses, avian encephalomyelitis virus and avian metapneumovirus. Since 1979, he has been at the Institute for Animal Health, firstly at the Houghton Poultry Research Station/Houghton Laboratory, currently at Compton Laboratory, Berkshire, specialising in poultry viruses. Professor Cavanagh's areas of research are novel vaccine development based on genetic modification of the genomes of viruses and epidemiology based on gene sequencing and molecular detection techniques. He was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Avian Pathology from 1997 to 2009 and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool. He acts as an independent expert on grant assessment committees for the EC and several national bodies, is on the National Farmers' Union Poultry Health Committee, a Trustee of the Houghton Trust, and chairs the UK Poultry Disease Group. Professor Cavanagh has no declared political activities.
Dr Michael Tidman (dermatologist) has been re-appointed to the VPC's sub-committee, the Appraisal Panel for Human Suspected Adverse Reactions to Veterinary Medicines, until December 2011. The Appraisal Panel was established in 1991 to evaluate all suspected adverse reactions to veterinary medicinal products in humans, to identify trends, generate hypotheses as to possible causes of these trends and monitor the consequences of recommendations for changes in working practices or use.
The appointments were undertaken in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
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