Dr Damien Higgins graduated from the University of Queensland Veterinary Faculty in 1990. After working in companion and farm animal practice he moved into zoo practice in 1994 at Currumbin Sanctuary and then at Taronga Zoo. He has contributed to field studies on koala, Australian sealions, northern hairy-nosed wombat, bandicoots and kangaroo and spent three Antarctic summers developing anaesthesia protocols and assisting with population surveys for leopard and crabeater seals. Published works cover echidna reproductive physiology, seal anaesthesia, koala immunology and pathology, and collection of clinical and necropsy material from stranded cetaceans. In 2004 he completed a PhD at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, on the pathogenesis and immunology of chlamydial disease of koalas and is now employed there, continuing research in the role of environment and host response in disease susceptibility in koalas, immunology of Australian sealions, and pathology of civets and cetaceans; while lecturing in Animal Health and Disease and Wildlife / Conservation Biology.

Last Updated: March 2008