About the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine

Founded as the Glasgow Veterinary College in 1862 by James McCall, the College was integrated into the Faculty of Medicine at The University in 1949 under the visionary leadership of William Weipers.

Weipers had a unique vision for the profession, namely, that it should be closely aligned to human medicine in the concept of “One Medicine” which embraced the comparative medicine of man and animals. He created a center of international recognition and regard and a philosophy that determined the future of the veterinary profession throughout the world.

Glasgow is one of the world’s great universities, the fourth oldest in the U.K, and from the beginning Weipers encouraged global interaction with the “best” irrespective of location. It was his vision which determined the future direction and eminence of the Glasgow Veterinary School for the rest of the 20th Century and into the 21st century.

The University of Glasgow Veterinary School has an outstanding international reputation for its leading contributions to veterinary medicine and has become a major world center for virology, cancer and parasitology research.

In 2010 the School of Veterinary Medicine became a constituent part of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences.

Looking back at Virology Research at the University of Glasgow

Investigation of infectious diseases was a focus in the Veterinary College from the late 1910s but it was not until the incorporation of the College into the University in 1949, with the recruitment of more specialized staff, that significant advances were made in defining the clinical features, pathology and causes of prevalent viral diseases.

In 1964, Professor William (Bill) Jarrett first identified the feline leukemia virus. Working with a local practitioner, Harry Pfaff, Bill Jarrett realized that clusters of cats were dying from lymphosarcoma suggesting an infectious origin. The first isolation of feline leukemia virus particles helped to establish Glasgow University as an internationally recognized center for research into retroviruses and cancer.

Following the discovery of FeLV, funding was obtained to extend virology research at the University’s Garscube campus and new recruits included Bill Jarrett’s brother, Oswald (Os) who had just finished his PhD studies at the Institute of Virology. In 1981, The Feline Virus Unit was established under the directorship of Os Jarrett.

Feline Infectious Peritonitis research at the Glasgow University

In the Feline Virus Unit, research was also conducted on aspects of other common feline viruses including feline immunodeficiency virus, feline calicivirus and feline herpesvirus. Diane D. Addie specialized in feline coronavirus (FCoV), the cause of Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). Her innovative work in the field, following up naturally occurring FCoV infections in more than 800 cats and 400 kittens over periods of up to twelve years, revealed that FIP occurred mainly as an uncommon outcome following the first infection of young cats with FCoV.

Amongst many other achievements and with the collaboration of her colleagues, Dr. Addie developed very useful diagnostic aids for FIP, which had been previously a difficult condition to diagnose. She also established methods to control FCoV infection which have been successfully implemented in many multicat households.