Vanessa Rosemary Duke Barrs is a veterinary researcher in feline infectious diseases.
[1] Barrs established clinical research and specialist veterinary services at the Valentine Charlton Cat Centre within the University of Sydney where she is also Professor of Feline Medicine and Infectious Diseases.
[2] Barrs discovered Aspergillus felis, an environmental fungus that causes invasive, intractable disease in cats, dogs and humans.
[6] She was born in North Carolina while her father, Henry Deacon Barrs, was a visiting CSIRO researcher at Duke University.
While pursuing clinical specialisation, she attained a Master of Veterinary Clinical Studies from the University of Sydney in 1997 and was admitted as a Member of the Australia and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in 1996 and made a Fellowship in 2000.