Professor Vanessa Barrs is currently Dean of the Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences (JCC), and also Chair Professor of Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences of City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). She graduated from the University of Sydney, Australia in 1990 with a Bachelor's Degree in Veterinary Science. She completed a Master’s Degree in Bacteriology and a Doctor of Philosophy in One-Health Mycology at the University of Sydney, supported by an Australian Government Endeavour Research Fellowship. Under Professor Barrs's leadership, JCC secured dual accreditation for its Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine Programme (BVM) from the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council (AVBC) and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) in September 2023, the first programme in Asia to achieve this distinction.
Professor Barrs has taken up various senior leadership roles, including Department Head of Small Animal Medicine at the University of Sydney for almost 15 years, Director of the University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Sydney, and Advisory Board Member of the Marie Bashir Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity at the University of Sydney.
Professor Barrs has been listed among the top 2% of the world’s most highly cited scientists since 2021, according to metrics compiled by Stanford University. She also received the "President’s Award" at CityUHK in 2021. She has held numerous roles advocating for companion animal health, including Founding Panellist of the Australasian Infectious Diseases Advisory Panel, Member of the Veterinary Practitioner’s Board of New South Wales, and Member of the Australian Veterinary Board Council’s Committee for Registration of Specialists. She is a past President of the Feline Chapter of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Sciences, and the International Society of Companion Animal Infectious Diseases. She is Editor of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Advances in Small Animal Care and is a member of the editorial boards of The Veterinary Journal, the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, and Medical Mycology Case Reports.