Perdita Welsh has been awarded for her dedication to professional development for veterianry nurses.

The awards recognise outstanding achievements.

The RCVS has announced the recipients of its 2025 Honours & Awards, including an equine vet who leads a charity treating and rehoming neglected horses, and a veterinary nurse who helped found the UK’s first veterinary clinical skills centre.

This year's highest honour, The Queen’s Medal, is to be posthumously awarded to Professor Simon Doherty, who died in December 2024. The award recognises Prof. Doherty’s distinguished career and achievements, and will be accepted by his family at RCVS Day on 4 July.

RCVS president Linda Belton, said: “We’re very grateful to Simon’s family who agreed to accept his posthumous award. Despite the very sad circumstances, I hope they take immense pride in all he achieved in areas such as One Health, sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, veterinary public health and international trade. 

“As always with our awards, we have a range of people who demonstrate the great breadth of contributions that the veterinary professions, and those working in and around the veterinary sector, make to animal health and welfare, public health and wider society – both here in the UK and abroad. I hope their stories will serve to inspire others in the professions, as well as those who might be considering veterinary careers, on just how consequential our work can be.

“I look forward to meeting the recipients and their families and friends and celebrating their achievements at our Royal College Day in July.”

The 2025 VN Golden Jubilee Award will be bestowed to Perdita Welsh, director of veterinary nursing at the Royal Veterinary College, for her dedication to professional development for veterinary nurses. A graduate of the RVC, Perdita was pivotal in the development of the UK’s first veterinary clinical skills training at the College, as well as a number of graduate and postgraduate veterinary nursing qualifications.

Perdita’s nominator, Niamh Clancy RVN, a Teaching Fellow at the RVC’s School of Veterinary Nursing said: “Perdi stands as an exemplary ambassador for the veterinary nursing profession, epitomising qualities that make her a beacon of inspiration and leadership. Her unwavering commitment to advancing education in veterinary nursing, particularly through the creation of the Level 6 Graduate Diploma and advanced certification programmes, showcases her dedication to raising the standards and profile of the profession.” 

This year’s Compassion Award will go to Dr Murray Corke MRCVS, in recognition of his 27 years volunteering on the Vetlife Helpline. During this time, Dr Corke has completed more than 600 shifts, helping over 1,500 members of the veterinary community experiencing difficulty.

His nominator, Dr Rosie Allister MRCVS, consultant manager at the Vetlife Helpline, said: “Several times each month, for 27 years, Murray has quietly signed onto his shift at Vetlife Helpline and has answered the phone to veterinary professionals in distress. Listening without judgement. Calmly, compassionately being there with people in our professions who are going through hard times. 
 
“As well as his compassion for people calling helpline, Murray has been a steadfast supporter of other volunteers. Ever present and ready to support others who have taken tough calls, those new to the role, or who themselves just need someone to talk with. It is hard to describe the enormity of a contribution of 27 years voluntary support to our professions.”

The other recipients of the 2025 RCVS Honours and Awards are:

Honorary Associateship - Rita Dingwall, Joanne Gibson and Stuart Pope :

Rita was nominated for her vast experience in practice management and latterly, as an independent business consultant, while Jo Gibson was nominated for her dedication to expanding the role of Veterinary Northern Ireland. Stuart Pope is operations manager at the University of Bristol’s vet school, where he is responsible for issues such as health and safety, managing the university’s farm facilities, and ensuring the vet school is sustainable.

Impact Award - Professor John Innes FRCVS and Dr Dan O’Neill FRCVS.

Professor Innes is named as the first recipient of this award for his longstanding role in developing, validating and promoting the use of client-reported outcomes measures in canine orthopaedics and chronic musculoskeletal pain. His method – Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs - is widely used internationally by researchers and practitioners. 

Dr Dan O’Neill was nominated for his critical role in the development of VetCompass, a search engine that indexes millions of clinical records collected from primary practices and referral centres. 

Inspiration Award - Kerry Flynn RVN and Dr Nicola Jarvis MRCVS. 
 
Kerry was nominated for her role as chair of Protected Paws Animal Rescue, a charity which treats and rehomes stray and sick animals in Greater London and beyond. 

Nicola Jarvis is head of veterinary care at Redwings Horse Sanctuary, where she has worked since 1996. The charity cares for more than 1,500 horses, ponies, donkeys and mules rescued from abuse and neglect every day at its sites in England and Scotland. 

International Award - Dr Paweł Beczkowski FRCVS and Dr Luke Gamble FRCVS.

Dr Beczkowskiwas nominated for his involvement in international bodies, such as the International Veterinary Students Association (IVSA), the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA), and for his research which has had internationally-recognised benefits for animal health and welfare and veterinary professionalism.

Luke Gamble is the founder of Worldwide Veterinary Services (WVS) and its sister charity Mission Rabies, two organisations dedicated to improving animal and human health in the developing world through ‘trap-neuter-vaccinate-return’ (TNVR) programmes for stray and feral animal populations in Cambodia, India, Malawi, Morocco and Thailand. The charities have also been responsible for training thousands of local veterinary surgeons in TNVR techniques.

The awards will be presented to the recipients at this year’s RCVS Annual General Meeting and Awards Day in Westminster on Friday, 4 July. 

Image (C) RCVS.