Teacher showcase: Dr John Mallyon

23 Jan 2019
Dr John MallyonDr John Mallyon – RSPCA rotation and Clinical EMS coordinator
Qualifications: BVSc, MACVS

John is our most recent winner of the Emeritus Professor Trevor Health School of Veterinary Science Teaching Excellence Award for 2018.

John is best known for his roles as the RSPCA Rotation Coordinator, Final Year Mentor and Clinical EMS coordinator. He was previously the Director of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at St Lucia (2011-2013) and is currently also a member of the School’s Assessment Subcommittee.

John is the supervisor and team leader of the VETS5030 RSPCA rotation at Wacol which has just completed its 5th year in its current format. John’s SeCAT evaluations for the last 5 years have been 4.8 and 4.9 culminating in 5.0 this year (2018) with 102 out of 104 students rating John’s teaching as outstanding. John delivers an integrated small animal medicine and surgery experience in a shelter environment. Students are given a great deal of autonomy and are expected to perform as junior clinicians.

John is the author of the Viva Survivor teaching aid. This is a two-part 4.5 hour on line seminar which helps prepare students for a final year small animal medicine viva. This seminar is available on the VETS5029 Blackboard site under lectures. In September of this year, John produced six medical quizzes leading up to viva week to help students with interpreting haematology, biochemistry and urine analysis. The quizzes were sent daily for 5 days by email to the entire cohort, answers following 24 hours after each quiz.

John is the instigator of video otoscopy with final year students (initially in 2013) and used part of a teaching grant to donate video otoscopes to the Hub and also the VMC in 2018 in order that students in their clinical years may become more proficient with this important clinical skill. Additionally, after collaboration with Dr Edith Hampson, John has included an ophthalmology practical session into the RSPCA rotation to further new graduate competency with this equally important clinical skill.

John contributes annually as an MC and presenter for the Final Year Veterinary Student Conference Week and along with Aaron Herndon, Dan Schull, Donna Parker and Xavier Schneider, co-delivers the EMS Happy Hour (a monthly online afterhours tutorial for interested final year students who are geographically dispersed whilst on placements).

John’s expertise in General Small Animal Practice has been acknowledged by the following organisations: 

  • Brisbane City Council – since 2013, John has been engaged by the council on matters relating to dangerous dog breeds
  • Australian Veterinary Council Board – John has been the examiner in canine medicine since 2015
  • ANZCVS – John was approached and accepted the role of examiner for the new Membership of General Practice beginning in 2019.

John has received student-voted teaching awards in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. 


Vital Statistics
Years of Tertiary Teaching:
 11 at the SVS
Discipline Areas: General Practice – Small animals
Course Coordination: VETS5029 -EMS Teaching
Courses: VETS5030, RSPCA rotation, VETS5029, Vets For Life
Clinical contribution: >90% clinical work and clinical teaching.
Student Quote: What a wonderful teacher. John balanced encouraging independent thought with guidance, and has done me an enormous service in developing my education. He was able to identify weaknesses in our knowledge and assist us to round our knowledge out without being judgemental. He was very supportive of our successes and helped us to identify our weaknesses. (2017)

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