About the School

The School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences at James Cook University is a multidisciplinary unit of around 60 staff. Its focus is the delivery of high quality education and research in the areas of anatomy, immunology, microbiology, medical laboratory science, physiology, pharmacology and veterinary science. The School is located in the northeast corner of the Douglas Campus, within an area known as Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences precinct. We also have staff based at the Cairns Campus of James Cook University.

The School plays a significant teaching role in the following degree programs: Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences, Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science, Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Nursing, Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, Bachelor of Pharmacy, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Speech Pathology, Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science and the Bachelor of Veterinary Science. Currently there are some 375 full-time equivalent students enrolled in the School's programs.

Current research interests within the School include: stress and the responses to injury, reproductive biology, cell signalling and metabolism, aquatic pathobiology, biotechnology, epidemiology, virology, applied microbiology and food microbiology.

The units that form the current School of Veterinary and Biomedical Science have enjoyed a long and successful history within the University. In 1969, the Graduate School of Tropical Veterinary Science was established with Professor Rod Campbell as the foundation Professor. Its focus for the next 20 years was research and graduate education in veterinary science. In the early nineties, the unit was renamed the Department of Biomedical and Tropical Veterinary Science and became significantly involved in undergraduate teaching programs in biomedical and nursing sciences. The disciplines of physiology and pharmacology were established in response to these needs.

In 1997, we amalgamated with the School of Molecular Sciences to become the School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences. The disciplines within this 'super' School consisted of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, as well as Physiology and Pharmacology. In the late nineties, the Australian Institute of Tropical Veterinary and Animal Sciences (AITVAS) was established within this School as a focus for research and graduate studies in veterinary and animal sciences. In 2002, the School was restructured as the School of Biomedical Sciences comprising the disciplines of Microbiology and Immunology, Physiology and Pharmacology and AITVAS. Later in that year, the Institute of Medical Laboratory Science was established. In early 2003, we welcomed the consolidation of the discipline of Anatomy within the School.

In 2004, the Commonwealth Government provided funding for an undergraduate Bachelor of Veterinary Science course at JCU. In 2005 we became the School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences and are now responsible for the development and delivery of this program. We enrolled our first intake of students in 2006.