Deborah Reynolds CB served as the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

from March 2004 until she retired in November 2007. She is usually referred to as Debby Reynolds, or less often as Deborah Reynolds.

Chief Veterinary Officer

Reynolds was the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) of the

and for the

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental quality, environmenta ...

(DEFRA) from March 2004 to 9 November 2007. As CVO, Reynolds was the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

government's main spokesperson on

animal health Animal Health was a UK government executive agency primarily responsible for ensuring that farmed animals in Great Britain were healthy, disease-free and well looked after. One of its key roles was to implement government policies aimed at preve ...

, and was in the British nationwide news repeatedly to explain policy and answer questions about outbreaks or control of serious animal infections, such as

foot-and-mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious disease, infectious and sometimes fatal virus (biology), viral disease that primarily affects even-toed ungulates, including domestic and wild Bovidae, bovids. The vir ...

, H5N1 bird flu, bovine TB,

rabies Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia ("fear of water") because its victims panic when offered liquids to drink. Early symptoms can include fever and abn ...

and bluetongue virus. On 9 November 2007, DEFRA announced that Reynolds had opted to take early retirement at the age of 55 years, and that the Deputy CVO Fred Landeg would take over temporarily as

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

CVO with immediate effect. She was invested as a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregi ...

(CB) in the

New Year Honours 2008 The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and ...

Personal life

Reynolds is a keen gardener and birdwatcher, currently serving as President of the Berkshire Ornithology Club and she was a board member of British Trust of Ornithology until 2023. Her husband, David keeps and shows game

fowl Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl ( Galliformes) and the waterfowl ( Anseriformes). Anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close evolutionary relatives; toget ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

s and bantams.

Career

*1970 to 1975 - Studied

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both ...

science at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

, a 5-year course, gained an honours degree, BVSc *1984 -

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in the epidemiology of enteric viruses in calves,

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

*1975 to 1984 - Research Officer at the Institute for Animal Health *1984 to 1994 - Worked in the Veterinary Investigation Service of the State Veterinary Service and moved to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) in 1991 where she worked until 1994 *1994 to 1997 - Head of the Bacteriology Department at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency *1997 to 2001 - Head of Endemic Animal Disease and

Zoonoses A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, fungi, or prion) that can jump from a non-human vertebrate to a human. When h ...

at MAFF, which subsequently became DEFRA *2001 to 2004 - Veterinary Director of the

Food Standards Agency The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is led by a board appoin ...

*March 2004 to 9 November 2007 - Chief Veterinary Officer for the United Kingdom and Director General for Animal Health and Welfare at Defra *2008 to 2013 - Non Executive Director, NHS Berkshire Primary Care Trust *2008 to 2013 - Board member Health Protection Agency *2008 to present Affiliated Professor Colorado State University *2008 to 2019 - Consultant for US Department of Agriculture, developing National Animal Program with government of Georgia *2009 to 2015 - Chairperson for National Trust on Natural Environment Panel *2013 to 2017 - Chairman of Governors The Abbey School, Reading UK *2016 to 2017 - Consultant to Food and Agriculture Organisation, Kyrgyzstan *2019 to 2021 - Consultant to USDA in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Debby Alumni of the University of Bristol British veterinarians Companions of the Order of the Bath Living people Women veterinarians Year of birth missing (living people)