Verheyen K.L.P.

Kristien graduated as a vet from the University of Ghent, Belgium, in 1995. After spells in mixed practice and the pharmaceutical industry, she joined the Epidemiology Unit at Animal Health Trust (AHT) near Newmarket, working on equine infectious diseases and being responsible for the veterinary care of the AHT's pony herd.

In 1998, still at the AHT, she started working full-time on a Horserace Betting Levy Board-funded research project studying the epidemiology of fractures in racehorses in training. Whilst working on this project, Kristien also studied for an MSc degree in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which she obtained in 2002.

In 2001, she took up a Residency in Equine Epidemiology funded by the Horse Trust that allowed her to complete a PhD in racehorse injury epidemiology, which she obtained in 2005. Kristien joined the Royal Veterinary College in January 2005 as a Lecturer in Clinical Epidemiology, a post in which she has continued and expanded her research into the epidemiology of equine diseases. In addition, she became Head of the Graduate School in April 2016.