About the College
The College of Public Health, Medical & Veterinary Sciences (CPHMVS) is part of the Division of Tropical Health and Medicine.
CPHMVS promotes, fosters, supports and administers quality teaching, research and research translation across the disciplinary areas of aeromedical retrieval, animal science, biochemistry, bioengineering, biomedicine, biosecurity, cell biology, communicable diseases and their control, disaster preparedness and response, human physiology, genomics, global health, health systems and policies, immunology, indigenous health, injury prevention, medical entomology, medical laboratory sciences, microbiology, molecular biology, One Health, parasitology, public health, virology, travel medicine, tropical medicine, veterinary science.
The College has key external advisory groups for each of its disciplines, whose members provide advice on the key requirements for working in these industries now, future directions for graduates and emerging themes for curriculum and research. The CPHMVS academic and professional staff are office holders and advisors on several key industry, state and national government committees, international organisations and editorial committees providing evidence based advice to support understanding the needs of, developing new and improved approaches to and delivering services for the health and well being of humans and animals globally, especially in under served, rural and remote settings.
Our subjects range for bench to bedside and health services and systems, farm to fork and animal services and conservation, genome to animals (production, companion, wildlife; terrestrial and aquatic) and humans to policies and systems. Work integrated learning and placements in local, state, national and international settings are available to our students to ensure both work readiness as well as real life experience.
The College has a dynamic Higher degree Research community, led by national and global leaders in their research fields, and with access to international class field, laboratory and other research facilities. This world class research is built into the subjects taught through a range of courses to ensure that the basics and well as innovation and emerging fields are covered in the education programs we support.
The College hosts the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Vector Borne and Neglected Tropical Diseases. The Centre supports WHO capacity building priorities (including clinical, public health and social sciences) for effective control of vector-borne diseases (VBD) and neglected tropical diseases (NTD); the scale up and evaluation of WHO recommended vector control methods and other NTD control and elimination strategies; the development of innovative and sustainable NTD surveillance strategies and participate in collaborative operational research on early detection, prevention and management of chronic morbidities and effective tools for vector control.
The College also is in a partnership with CSIRO in the Science Leader program in Emerging Infectious diseases launched in 2019.
The work of the College, its teaching, research, research translation, community and global service and engagement embraces the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular:
- Goal 1: No Poverty;
- Goal 2: Zero Hunger;
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well Being;
- Goal 5: Gender Equality;
- Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation;
- Goal 10: Reduced Inequality;
- Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities;
- Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production;
- Goal 13: Climate Action;
- Goal 14: Life Below Water;
- Goal 15: Life on Land; and
- Goal 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goal.
Professor Ted Whittem BVSc, PhD, DACVCP, FANZCVS, GAICD was appointed the Dean of the College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences at James Cook University, in October 2021.
Ted began his career as a veterinary practitioner in 1980, graduating from the Melbourne Veterinary School. After 7 years in mixed private practice, he enrolled at University of Georgia for his PhD in veterinary pharmacology and a residency in veterinary clinical toxicology. Ted has taught veterinary therapeutics, toxicology, veterinary practice management and veterinary clinical skills to students at Massey University (1991 – 1995), the University of Illinois (1996 – 2000), and the University of Melbourne (2008 – 2021).
Ted is a globally respected researcher in veterinary pharmacokinetics, with active research collaborations in USA, Europe and Australia, and with a broad species interest including dairy cattle, cats and dogs, horses and Australian native mammals. His preferred three research focus areas are anaesthesia and pain management, therapeutic outcomes and food safety, the latter from a residues perspective. Ted has supervised 37 research graduate students to completion, published over 70 peer reviewed research papers and has been invited to give 23 keynote talks.
In 2000, Ted took a sabbatical from academia and worked as a senior research executive in the pharmaceutical industry in New Jersey, and Australia. During this time he brought more than 30 products to the market and is now an inventor on 12 patent families.
Service to the veterinary profession has been a constant part of Ted’s career. He has contributed to global benchmarking of standards for specialty qualifications in veterinary pharmacology, serving as Chairman of the Examination Committee of the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology (ACVCP), as an invited external member of the Examination Committee of the European College of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, and on the Board of Examiners for the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS). He has served as the elected President of the American Academy of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics (AAVPT), as President of the Veterinary Practitioners Registration Board of Victoria, and as a member of the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council. Ted has also been a member of expert advisory panels to the New Zealand and the Australian veterinary drug regulators, the Combined Racing Codes of New Zealand, the Ohio Veterinary Medicines Board, and to racing bodies in Victoria.
The office of the Dean can be contacted through the team email deancphmvs@jcu.edu.au.
Learning and Teaching
Dr David Simcock
The Associate Dean, Learning & Teaching is responsible for the development and promotion of a learning and teaching culture committed to excellence and innovation and a positive student experience across the College.
Research
A/Prof Lionel Hebbard
The Associate Dean of Research is responsible for the strategic and regulatory leadership of research in the College.
Research Education
A/Prof Zhanming Liang
The Associate Dean Research Education (ADRE) is responsible for the regulatory leadership of research education in the College.
In conjunction with the College Dean, Associate Deans and the Manager College Operations, the Academic Head plays a key role within the College to provide academic leadership, direction and management of the College’s learning and teaching, research, research education and engagement activities, and to contribute to strategic planning and the achievement of priorities established in consultation with the College Dean within their disciplines.
Medical Sciences
Prof David Whitmore
Public Health & Tropical Medicine
A/Prof Sue Devine
Veterinary Sciences
Dr Margaret Reilly