Michael Ward is Chair, Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety in the Sydney School of Veterinary Science. He is a veterinary epidemiologist with experience in analytical epidemiological methods, spatial epidemiology and simulation modeling. He has more than 30 years experience in conducting research on infectious diseases. Michael is a veterinary graduate of the University of Queensland and has held positions within the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and the veterinary schools at Purdue University (Indiana) and Texas A&M University. He returned to Australia from Texas in 2008 to take up his current position at The University of Sydney. In 2010 Michael organized and hosed the GEOVET conference. He has been part of several ISVEE scientific committees, and has acted as Associate Editor for the journals Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Zoonoses and Public Health. Michael is currently the Editor-in-Chief, Transboundary and Emerging Diseases.