I went to the Royal Veterinary College in 1962. I qualified in December 1967 in the heat of Foot and Mouth Disease.
Between 1968 and 1970 I was the beneficiary of a Pig Industry Development Authority (PIDA) studentship in the Dept of Pathology, initially being trained by Klaus Jericho before he returned to Canada both of us under the auspices of the late Professor ‘Ernie’ Cotchin. This gave me a good training in large animal medicine, animal husbandry, routine diagnostic pathology, and in pig research. These PIDA awards were the best thing that ever happened in pig research.
These newly acquired skills were honed in Animal Health at the RVC with Professor Jet Jones whose MSc course was a benefit to very many veterinarians from all over the world. It was also an opportunity to run the college pig unit and an advisory group in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire during the period from 1970-1975. Three years in practice followed but in 1978 I returned to the RVC to teach farm animal anatomy, histology and embryology with legends of veterinary anatomy Ray Ashdown and the late Peter Goody. This period led to co-authorship of three illustrated atlases of horse, ruminant and canine anatomy. By this time the late Jack Done, head of Pathology at the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL) had decided that I had learnt enough of the background subjects essential for a farm animal investigator and pathologist to be invited to join the Pathology Department (1983).
Over the next twenty years pathological investigation produced a large number of research topics and papers but by 2002 CVL was into data collection. The main thrust of veterinary investigation was in the Regional Diagnostic Laboratories and so it was a big northern adventure to take the post of SVIO at the VLA-Thirsk Regional Laboratory. In some ways this was like coming home as Thirsk RL together with Bury St Edmonds are the main centres of the VLA pig activities. I have been extremely fortunate with most of my colleagues particularly in The Pig Veterinary Society. This has enabled me to write nearly 300 communications of various sorts including contributions to 5 textbooks. I now teach ‘piggy bits’ at 2 Veterinary Schools. Stan Done, BA, DVetMed, PhD, Dipl ECPath, Dipl ECPHM, FRCPath, FRCVS. Visiting Professor of Veterinary Pathology, University of Glasgow, and VIO, Veterinary Laboratories Agency -Thirsk
