Martin Whitehead

What role do you have at Chipping Norton Veterinary Hospital?

Senior Veterinary Surgeon.

I have a post-graduate qualification in small-animal medicine, and I am an RCVS-recognised Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Medicine.

What are your special interests at work?

I run the Hospitals radioiodine unit, using radioactive iodine to treat hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer in cats from all over the South of England and the Midlands.

I am also one of our Hospital’s team of zoo vets.

I have a particular interest in evidence-based veterinary medicine. I have been the International Director of the Evidence Based Veterinary Medicine Association, www.ebvma.org and I still work with that organisation.

I do some clinical research, present at veterinary conferences, and publish reports in veterinary journals arising from cases seen in our Hospital, papers reporting veterinary research studies, and academic reviews of various aspects of veterinary medicine, see: Research and Publications.

I also give occasional Continuing Professional Development lectures for vets on various topics including evidence-based veterinary medicine and causes of diagnostic error and treatment error in veterinary medicine, and responsible usage of parasiticides for pets. I contribute to efforts to reduce the use of irrational and ineffective treatments by veterinary surgeons. I have also campaigned for measures to improve the often very poor welfare of reptiles and other exotic animals kept as pets in the UK.

Any pets?

Golden retrievers Elvis and Reggie, and cat SONAR