Christine Helen Middlemiss is a Scottish veterinary surgeon and the Chief Veterinary Officer of the United Kingdom.

Early life

She was born in Montrose and attended primary school in Morayshire.

Career

She graduated from Glasgow Vet School in 1992, then began her veterinary career as a mixed practitioner in Biggar, Lanarkshire. This was followed by a spell at the Royal (Dick) Veterinary School, then a return to mixed practice for several years in Northern England She joined the Animal Health Agency in 2008. She became Deputy Director for Animal Traceability and Public Health in 2016.

Chief Veterinary Officer

She became Chief Veterinary Officer on 1 March 2018. Middlemiss was awarded a visiting professorship by Harper Adams University in 2019. She was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to the veterinary and farming sectors. She is responsible for the UK

badger cull Badger culling in the United Kingdom is permitted under licence, within a set area and timescale, as a way to reduce badger numbers in the hope of controlling the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Humans can catch bTB, but public health cont ...

which has seen half of the

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by ...

population slaughtered as part of controversial

bovine tuberculosis Bovines (subfamily Bovinae) comprise a diverse group of 10 genera of medium to large-sized ungulates, including cattle, bison, African buffalo, water buffalos, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. The evolutionary relationship betwee ...

measures and is the leading defender of the policy

Personal life

She lives in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and has a rescue cat.

References

External links