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Iain Bell

  |  BVMS | MVM | MRCVS
Iain Bell

Day 2 – 18th September

TB Policy updates from England, Scotland and Wales, followed by Q&A
09:30 - 11:30

Iain qualified in 1983 from Glasgow University Veterinary School, after which he stayed on to became a research assistant in the Department of Physiology; working on chemotherapy of Trypanosoma congolense in cattle.

From October 1984 to December 2002, Iain worked as a veterinary surgeon in mixed veterinary practice in Duns, Berwickshire, Scottish Borders. He was a self-described ‘jack of all trades’, undertaking a variety of livestock farm work (sheep/cattle/ostrich/game birds), as well as equine and small animal work.

He joined the State Veterinary Service in December 2002 as a Veterinary Officer in Galashiels, covering the large variety of work that APHA undertake. After developing expertise in animal by-product (ABP) work, he became the Scottish Lead Veterinary Officer for ABP. He was involved in various disease outbreaks, including Newcastle disease in partridge (2006), foot and mouth disease (2007), and both low and high pathogenicity avian influenza.

Iain undertook various temporary additional responsibility and secondment roles (Policy Veterinary Adviser (VA), VA in the old vet and tech services, Scottish Veterinary Lead) and was promoted to a substantive VA: Field Epidemiology in Animal Health and Welfare Advice team in 2015. In this role, he was responsible for providing support to Scotland Field Delivery, particularly around bTB control.

He re-joined the Scotland Field Delivery Team in December 2023 as a fourth Veterinary Lead with responsibility for the south-west of Scotland (Ayr, Dumfries and Stranraer offices), along with an overarching responsibility for the ‘endemics’ work area (bTB, sheep scab and bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD)), and liaison with Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Outside of work, Iain manages a smallholding with his wife, walks the dog, gardens, claims to eat too much and generally tries to switch off.