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Jonathan Haycock

Conservation Scholar Alumni

  • Qualifications BSc (Hons) Veterinary Sciences - Royal Veterinary College, UK, 2008 BVetMed Veterinary Medicine - Royal Veterinary College, UK, 2011 MSc Wild Animal Health - Zoological Society of London & Royal Veterinary College, UK, 2014 PhD - University of Surrey, UK, ongoing MSc Wild Animal Health - Zoological Society of London & Royal Veterinary College, UK, 2014
  • Focus area
    Populations
  • Location
    At the Zoo

 

I graduated as a veterinary surgeon from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), London in 2011 having also intercalated in Veterinary Biosciences. I completed several overseas zoological placements both during and after university. I have also worked at a veterinary practice in Kent that included zoological and wildlife institutions and I returned to the RVC in 2013 to complete an MSc degree in Wild Animal Health.

My undergraduate and masters theses focussed on Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes viruses (EEHVs), a deadly virus that affects juvenile Asian elephants, and I continued my passion for elephant conservation by volunteering at the Animal and Plant Health Agency-Weybridge in Surrey until I secured the EEHV PhD position there in July 2016.

My PhD project focusses on the innate and adaptive immunity of Asian elephants to EEHVs and will be carried out in collaboration with Chester Zoo, Zoological Society of London, Woburn Safari Park and several other wildlife organisations in the UK, Europe and the USA.

With continued support from Chester Zoo’s amazing supporters, I hope to improve our understanding of how the elephant immune system reacts to the viruses so we can control the effects of this devastating disease on this endangered species.

Learn more about the viruses, the research and how to help in the fight against EEHVs here.

Key publications

Seilern-Moy, K., Bertelsen, M.F., Leifsson, P.S., Perrin, K.L., Haycock, J. and Dastjerdi, A. (2016). Fatal elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus-1 and-4 co-infection in a juvenile Asian elephant in Europe. Journal of Medical Microbiology Case Reports, 3(2).

Lopez J., Haycock J. , McKenzie A., Seilern-Moy K. and Dastjerdi A. (2017). Assessment of a lancet-and-swab blood sampling technique for surveillance of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus infection.  Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. 48(3) 659-667.

Supervisors

Javier Lopez (Chester Zoo)

Professor Falko Steinbach (Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey)

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