Dr Barbara Wieland is a Doctor in Veterinary Medicine with a PhD in veterinary epidemiology with over 25 years of experience in academia, international cooperation and development, research and veterinary services.
Barbara received her veterinary medicine and PhD degrees from the University of Bern and conducted her post-doctorate at the Royal Veterinary College in London, and the Pirbright Institute. She also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Higher Education) from King’s College London and completed modules of a CAS in Management of Rural Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
To focus her research to improve access to animal health services for smallholders, she worked for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Mongolia, working on animal health projects before taking on the role of principial scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute in Ethiopia. There she built up the herd health team and coordinated research projects in East and West Africa and Southeast Asia. She held management functions in the CGIAR research programs on Livestock, Livestock and Fish, and Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. Sustainable use of resources and equity in animal health were at the core of her research which applied interdisciplinary approaches and built on international and national partnerships.
In 2022 she was appointed as Director of the Institute of Virology and Immunology, the national reference laboratory for diagnostics, control and research of highly contagious animal diseases in Switzerland.
Barbara joined GALVmed in 2023 as a member of the Technical Scientific Advisory Committee and was appointed to the Board of Trustees in September 2024.