QUB vet named as the WAVMA Fellow of the Year 2024
Dr Simon Doherty first ‘dipped his toe’ into the aquatic veterinary sector in 2011 when he assumed management and veterinary oversight of the Fish Diseases Unit at Veterinary Sciences Division, AFBI Stormont.
His interest in aquatic medicine and in sustainable aquaculture systems has grown since then.
In 2015, the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (WAVMA) recognised him at a Certified Aquaculture Veterinarian (CertAqV). In addition to helping to organise a number of specialised fish medicine workshops, he was the Co-Chair of the local organising committee for the 18th International Conference on the Diseases of Fish & Shellfish, working alongside Dr Marian McLoughlin and the European Association of Fish Pathology (EAFP) to host the conference in Belfast, in 2017.
Simon would later use his sector knowledge to create export trade and inward investment opportunities for UK and overseas companies working in the sector, through his role as the Animal Health & Aquaculture Sector Specialist for the UK Government Department for International Trade (DIT, now DBT).
In 2022, Simon was elected as the WAVMA Director at Large for Europe. In the same year, Simon chaired the British Veterinary Association working group that researched and wrote BVA’s Sustainable UK Finfish Aquaculture position, which was launched in 2023.
On learning about his selection as the 2024 WAVMA Fellow of the Year, Simon said, “I’m absolutely thrilled. My involvement in the sector came by a very different route to that taken by most vets delivering aquatic veterinary services. But it’s been a privilege to work in an important area of veterinary medicine that many don’t even know exists!”
Simon is regularly invited to give conference presentations on One Health and the link to challenges around sustainability in the aquatic sector; next month he will Chair an aquaculture workshop being hosted by the Moredun Research Institute in Edinburgh.
