Jo Ireland, BVMS, PhD, CertAVP (EM), FHEA, FRCVS

Jo Ireland, BVMS, PhD, CertAVP(EM), FHEA, FRCVS, graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Glasgow in 2000. Following a short spell working in a large equine referral hospital in Sweden, Ireland was in equine ambulatory practice in the United Kingdom for seven years, with additional time spent as a volunteer veterinarian in The Gambia for the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust.

Watching her own horses grow older and working with lots of senior horses in practice led Ireland to undertake her PhD research in equine geriatric health and welfare at the University of Liverpool. She completed that degree in 2011.

Alongside this, Ireland also studied for another postgraduate qualification, obtaining the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice (Equine Medicine – Internal) in 2010.

After developing a passion for equine research, Ireland joined the Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance group at the Animal Health Trust in 2010. Her role involved disease surveillance and leading a nationwide vaccine trial for Equine Grass Sickness.

In 2017, she returned to the veterinary school at the at the University of Liverpool. Ireland spent five years working in their equine ambulatory practice, which also involved teaching veterinary undergraduate students.

Her current role is split between veterinary education and research, and she is co-ordinator of four veterinary postgraduate modules, as well as Programme Director for the Postgraduate Diploma and Master’s in Veterinary Professional Studies programmes. Ireland also supervises research projects undertaken by PhD students and by chartered physiotherapists completing their Master’s in Veterinary Physiotherapy degrees.

Ireland is a member of the Equine Veterinary Journal Study Design and Data Analysis Board and an Associate Editor for Veterinary Evidence. She recently was appointed as research lead for the Equine Department at Liverpool.

While Ireland hopes to continue expanding her senior horse research, she does miss spending more time in practice working with older horses, so is delighted to join the My Senior Horse team!

Ireland’s areas of interest/research include equine internal medicine, particularly geriatric medicine; endocrine diseases (PPID, EMS and laminitis) and respiratory medicine; owner approaches to senior horse care; evidence-based veterinary medicine; quality improvement in veterinary practice.

Ireland continues to work closely with The Horse Trust, the equine charity that funded both her PhD research and ongoing senior horse research projects.

While Ireland no longer has her own horses, she remains hopeful that she will eventually get around to taking up her neighbour’s kind offer of borrowing a horse to get back in to riding. Currently she is on the lookout for a new rescue dog, and in the meantime making do with squirrels visiting the garden as the next best thing to having a pet. However, through stealing bulbs and eating a lot of fruit, the squirrels do get in the way of Ireland’s other main interest outside of work, which is gardening.

You may contact Ireland at Joanne .Ireland@liverpool.ac.uk.