Dr Jasmin Hufschmid from the University of Melbourne was the recipient of the 2023 Barry L. Munday Award. 
 
Jasmin has contributed substantially to the study of wildlife diseases in Australia in the past five years. Her contributions to research and communication have been considerable, but her efforts in education, training and mentoring have been truly outstanding.
 
Jasmin was born in Switzerland, and graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Sydney in 1999. She spent three years in mixed private veterinary practice, and then completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2009. She then began work as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Melbourne investigating the pathology and epidemiology of industrial fluorosis in eastern grey kangaroos. She became a Lecturer in wildlife health at the University of Melbourne at the start of 2012. She was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer, a position she holds today.
 
Jasmin has contributed to research and teaching at both the University of Melbourne (Australia) and the Institute for Fish and Wildlife Health at the University of Bern (Switzerland). Jasmin has published 18 papers during the last 5 years, which have been cited 210 times. She is a current member of the WDA, as well as the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), Ecohealth International, the Australian Mammal Society, and the Australian Society for Parasitology.
 
Jasmin is currently supervising five students undertaking PhDs in diverse areas of wildlife health. These students are Dr Brett Gardner (marine mammals), Dr Tharaka Liyanage (marsupials), Dr Tian Chen (macropods), Mr Damien Nzabanita (waterbirds) and Ms Anna Langguth (bats). She has also previously supervised PhD students that have gone on to become prominent members of the Australian wildlife health community, including Dr Clare Death, currently at Wildlife Health Australia (WHA). Jasmin is an outstanding PhD supervisor, and the outstanding scientific contributions of her students are testament to this fact. She is playing a huge role in training the next generation of wildlife health professionals in Australasia.
 
In 2015, she initiated the Wildlife Health Research Group within the then Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences (now Faculty of Science) at the University of Melbourne. Jasmin is also a central member of the University of Melbourne One Health Research Group. She continues to run bi-monthly Wildlife Health Forum meetings for Victorian wildlife health stakeholders. Jasmin has achieved all of this despite taking time out of her career to raise her children, and she is an active member of her rural community in central Victoria.
 
Jasmin is a strong supporter of the WDA and has made significant contributions to both WDA and the Australasia section. She acted as Secretary from 2011-2017, and she’s currently on the WDA Executive Council as the Member at Large, as well as acting on the membership committee at the parent body level.
 
Jasmin is a very worthy recipient of the Barry L Munday Recognition Award for 2023.

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