Biography

Dr Peter Walker is an Honorary Professor in the Schoiol of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland. He is also an independent consultant in animal biosecurity, specialising in emerging infectious diseases and aquatic animal health. He is currently Director of AusBiosecurity Consulting Pty Ltd and He is a virologist with expertise in a wide range of diseases of humans, livestock and aquatic animals. He has worked extensively with governments, FAO, OIE and industry on improving biosecurity in Asia and Australia. He was formerly Chief Research Scientist at the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong. He was also Research Group Leader for Disease Emergence and Response, Head of Aquatic Animal Health and Head of Vector-borne Diseases at this highly secure (BSL3/4) national facility. He was also formerly Program Manager (Health) for the Cooperative Research Centre for Aquaculture and served on the Executive Committee of the Cooperative Research Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases. He has also served as Director of the OIE Reference Centre on Yellow Head Disease, Member of the OIE ad hoc Committee on Crustacean Diseases and Member of the Australian Government's Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee. He is also the Australian National Member of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), Chair of the Rhabdovirus Study Group and former Chair of the Ronivirus Study Group. He has published over 160 refereed research papers and book chapters and has served on the editorial boards on international scientific journals including Reviews in Aquaculture, Frontiers in Microbiology, Archives of Virology and Virus Genes. He has also served as Associate Editor of the Encyclopaedia of Virology.