Professor Chris Pollitt – BVSc (Massey) PhD (Qld)
Chris Pollitt graduated Bachelor
of Veterinary Science from Massey University, New
Zealand in 1968 and was a practising veterinary
surgeon in New Zealand, Victoria, Western Australia
and Queensland until commencing PhD studies in the
Physiology Department of The University of Queensland.
His PhD on the Genetic Variation of Equine Plasma
Proteins was awarded in 1984 the year that Chris
joined the School of Veterinary Science as the lecturer
in equine medicine. He has developed an international
reputation in the field of equine foot biology and
disease pathogenesis principally because of his
work on ‘laminitis' the most important disease of
the horse's foot and the biggest killer of horses
after colic. To generate a critical mass of research
personnel Dr Pollitt, in 1996, created the Australian
Equine Laminitis Research Unit, which has become
internationally competitive having attracted, in
the last 8 years, over $2 million in research funding
including a current $120,000 Rural Industries Research
and Development Corporation grant entitled “Laminitis
preventive and therapeutic strategies”. With the
mission of "Elucidating the mechanism
of laminitis to make laminitis a preventable disease"
the unit has become an international focus
of laminitis and equine foot biology research. Four
post doctorate fellows have worked in the unit since
1996. At present, Dr Pollitt is supervising/co-supervising
7 PhD MPhil students and has previously successfully
supervised 10 BVetBiol/MVSc/PhD postgraduate students.
Dr Pollitt has 61 publications
in international peer-reviewed journals and 71 conference
proceedings.
On invitation he has written chapters on equine lam
initis in modern textbooks of equine medicine and
lameness. His own textbook Colour Atlas of the Horse's
Foot has been reprinted four times and has been published
in German, Japanese and Spanish editions. In 2001
he wrote the 110 page textbook “Equine laminitis”
published by the RIRDC. In 2001, he was invited ed
to give a prestigious 4 hour master class on Equine
Laminitis at the British Equine Veterinary Association
annual scientific meeting and repeated this performance
for the American Association of Equine Practitioners
congress in 2003. He has enthusiastically promoted
the name of The University of Queensland and its School
of Veterinary Science in the 15 countries where, on
invitation, he has presented his equine laminitis
research findings. He is a foundation member of the
organizing committee of the biannual International
Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the
Foot. In 1997 Chris was inducted into American Farriers
International Hall of Fame for his contributions to
education on the horse's foot. In 1997 he received
the RIRDC-Vetsearch Equine Research Award as Equine
Researcher of the Year for laminitis studies and in
2003 received the Pfizer Scientific Award.
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