Prof Alun Williams joined University of. Cambridge in 2009 when he was elected Chair of Veterinary Diagnostic Pathology. 

After graduating from University of Glasgow Veterinary School, Alun conducted his PhD studies at Cambridge before becoming a MRC Research Fellow at University of Oxford Department of Paediatrics, John Radcliffe Hospital, studying the pathogenesis of meningitis in children. 

He then joined the Institute of Animal Health’s MRC/AFRC Neuropathogenesis Unit in Edinburgh where he investigated the cellular and molecular mechanisms of degenerative changes in neurones infected by prion disease – including “mad cow disease” and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. 

Alun continued this research programme when he became Senior Lecturer and then Reader at University of Glasgow and subsequently as Professor, and Head of Department, of Pathology and Infectious Diseases, Royal Veterinary College, University of London. 

Alun is an EBVS European Specialist in Veterinary Pathology and has a particular interest in neuropathology and neuropathobiology. He holds several post-graduate qualifications in teaching, learning and assessment. 

He was the Director of Teaching at the veterinary school where he was responsible for overseeing the implementation of a lecture-free final year and the launch of a new Clinical Curriculum and a new format of the Final Veterinary Examinations following a major review of the ways in which the vet school delivered its teaching and assessed its students. 

Alun is an International Expert Advisor for other vet schools in Europe and Asia, and the academic lead for the University of Cambridge Community of Practice for Teaching and Learning. His major research contribution is now conducting and developing a programme of veterinary education research.