Dr Rachel Allavena

Dr Rachel Allavena is a board certified veterinary anatomic pathologist with the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and a registered specialist veterinary anatomic pathologist with the Veterinary Surgeon's board of Queensland through the Australian Veterinary Boards Council. She is a senior pathologist in the UQ School of Veterinary Science Veterinary School Diagnostic Service, where she manages the clinical and anatomic pathology divisions, and works as an ad hoc consultant for Queensland Medical Laboratory Vetnostics. In her professional capacity as a specialist she has overseen cases for Racing Queensland, Queensland Police and RSPCA Queensland.

Dr Allavena has a PhD in Comparative Medicine from Cornell Univesity in New York. Her research interests include developing novel cancer immunotherapics for pet dogs, and investigating the causes of koala morbidity and mortality which are driving the decline of koala populations in SEQLD. She has wide ranging research collaborations specialising in the pathological assessment and study design for animal models in a wide variety of areas including novel therapeutics, drug safety, toxicology, and animal welfare in laboratory animals and domestic species.

Dr Allavena has a major interest in graduate student and pathology trainee mentorship. She currently supervises RHD students and pathology trainees preparing for Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientist membership examinations or ACVP board examination. She teaches into the undergraduate BSc BVSc and BAppSc (Vet tech) courses for pathology, laboratory animal science and toxicology. She is the national secretary for the Australian Society of Veterinary Pathologists and the Pathobiology chapter of ANZCVS. She has served NHMRC panels for post-graduate medical scholarships.