I completed a vet degree at Massey University in 1989 and spent 10 years in practice in England and New Zealand before returning to Massey in 1999 to do a residency in veterinary pathology. After a stint in the veterinary pathology group at Washington State University in 2003 I once again returned to Massey, and since 2006 I have focused my research on marine mammals, particularly around traumatic injury and infectious disease.