Vanessa Barrs

She was born in North Carolina while her father, Henry Deacon Barrs, was a visiting CSIRO researcher at Duke University.^{[citation needed]} Barrs is the youngest of three children. She grew up in Griffith, New South Wales.^{[citation needed]}

Barrs studied veterinary science at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1990. While pursuing clinical specialisation, she attained a Master of Veterinary Clinical Studies from the University of Sydney in 1997 and was admitted as a Member of the Australia and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in 1996 and made a Fellowship in 2000.^[7]

Barrs has received awards including an Endeavour Research Fellowship in 2011^[8] and the Australian Small Animal Veterinary Association's Distinguished Scientist Award in 2009.^[1][9] Her teaching awards include the Australian Veterinary Association's Excellence in Teaching Award 2008.^[1]

She is a scientific editor for the Veterinary Journal (Elsevier),^[10] sits on the board of directors of the Australasian Society of Feline Medicine^[11] and, until 2018, was the president of the International Society of Companion Animal Infectious Diseases.