Jonathan Happold was born in Nigeria and spent formative parts of his childhood in the wildlife parks of East Africa. He graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Sydney in 1998 and spent the next seven years in private practice in Australia and England. In 2005–2006 Jonathan completed a Masters Degree in Epidemiology at the University of London and spent time at the Swiss Federal Veterinary Institute working on surveillance for influenza in wild birds. Since joining the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water resources in 2007, Jonathan has provided technical and policy advice on a range of animal health policies, programs and outbreak responses. In addition to domestic issues, he’s worked with the governments of New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea and from 2011 to 2015 he was based in Jakarta as Team Leader of the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Emerging Infectious Diseases. He’s now heavily involved in national efforts to strengthen animal health surveillance in Australia