Over the years, I have shouldered increasing administrative duties for my host organizations, beginning as a novice with basic functionary roles to becoming an experienced adviser and senior statesman. I have provided service not only to my Department, School and University, but also to my profession and to the general community.
I was a member of numerous University committees dealing with staff recruitment and appointment, library and IT resources, space allocation, administrative policies, teaching and learning governance, curriculum review, personnel management and financial administration.
I belong to 7 professional societies and am an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queensland Museum (including the International Reference Centre for Avian Haematozoa), the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and the University of Melbourne. I was a long-serving Specialist Editor for the International Journal for Parasitology and am a referee for 11 journals and 3 trust-funding agencies. I was a national assessor in the fields of veterinary and water quality testing for the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA). I am a Life Member of the Australian Association of von Humboldt Fellows (AAvHF).
I have endeavoured to champion my discipline through the Australian Society for Parasitology (ASP) by serving as Councillor, Newsletter Editor, Secretariat and Conference Organizer, and I was honoured to be elected as a Fellow of that Society in 2006 for my contributions to parasitology. I am currently completing an interactive website for parasitology education sponsored by the ASP.
I firmly believe that Professors should have something to profess, so I have always embraced opportunities to interact with print and television media on topical issues in health and education. I have been frequently interviewed by the press on topics as diverse as infectious diseases, global warming, water treatment, pollution and wildlife conservation, and have provided commentaries on emergent public health problems and science education priorities.
I have acted as science adviser for several television programs, and have featured in several episodes on wildlife management and biodiversity. I have been invited to speak at many national and international conferences, not only to provide research results and reviews but also to provide opening addresses, dinner speeches or to facilitate workshops. I have enjoyed being a ‘media-tart’ as it has advanced awareness and knowledge of contemporary issues and helped promote my discipline.
“Peter (POD) O’Donoghue has specialized in protozoology for over 30 years and he endeavours to infect colleagues and students with his passion for unicellular eukaryotes. He graduated from Adelaide University with an Honours degree in science in 1974 and was the first to complete a PhD at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science in Adelaide in 1979. He was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship and worked in Germany at the Institute for Comparative Tropical Medicine and Parasitology at the University of Munich in 1980 and the Institute for Parasitology at the Hannover School of Veterinary Medicine until 1982. He then returned to Australia and was employed as a Scientist in the Parasitology Section of the Central Veterinary Laboratories of the South Australian Department of Agriculture. In 1994, he moved to The University of Queensland (UQ) as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Parasitology and was promoted to Reader in the School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences in 2001 and Professor in the renamed School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences in 2007. He was awarded a DSc by the UQ in 2005 for his research endeavours.”
“His research is deliberately parochial, focussing on protozoa associated with Australian hosts. He utilizes available technologies to characterize sporozoa, ciliates and flagellates in mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and shellfish. He has described numerous species of cyst-forming and enteric coccidia in domestic and native animals, with particular emphasis on their developmental cycles and pathogenesis.
His early studies demonstrated the host specificity of Sarcocystis spp. infecting livestock and the transient nature of protective immunity against acute disease. More recently, he examined variation among Cryptosporidium isolates from wildlife and revealed considerable potential for zoonotic transmission. He conducted national surveys for haematozoa in birds and reptiles and revealed coevolutionary relationships with their vectors rather than their vertebrate hosts. He pioneered contemporary taxonomic studies on endosymbiotic litostome ciliates of herbivores in Australia, discovering a unique endemic fauna in macropodid marsupials compared to cosmopolitan species in domestic ruminants. He is currently studying hypersymbiotic relationships between bacteria and parabasalid flagellates in Australian termites and found evidence of organelle symbiogenesis. He collaborates widely and is part of the animal health specialist network throughout Australia. As consultant, he has diagnosed enigmatic parasites of children and pets, systemic diseases in fish, fouling diseases of shellfish and abortifacients in livestock. He is documenting protozoal biodiversity through systematic surveys of freshwater protozoa in Australia and terrestrial protozoa in Antarctica.”
“At UQ, POD teaches foundational biology, preclinical microbiology and vocational parasitology to over 1,200 medical, dental, veterinary and science students as well as continuing education on emerging diseases to medical and veterinary practitioners. He completed a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education in 2000, won an Award for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Queensland in 2000 and won the Prime-Minister’s Award for University Teacher of the Year in 2002. He was Chief Examiner for the 2004 International Biology Olympics and is involved in state and federal programs for science education in high schools and universities.”
“Peter provides senior service to his university, discipline and community. He is a foundational member of the CRC for Biosecurity and the CRC for Water Quality and Treatment, NATA assessor for diagnostic laboratories, Honorary Research Fellow at the Queensland Museum, and Honorary Consultant with the International Reference Centre for Avian Haematozoa. He acts as press correspondent on science and education issues and science adviser for two television programs. He has been a member of the Australian Society for Parasitology since 1974 and has served as State representative (1989-1994), Councillor (1995-2003), Conference Organizer (1995, 1997, 2003), Newsletter Editor (1994-2003), Secretary (1997), Incorporation Secretary (2000-2004) and Specialist Editor for the International Journal for Parasitology (1996-2004). Given his achievements and dedication to the discipline of parasitology and his support to the Society, we hereby elect Peter O’Donoghue as a Fellow of the Society.”
Students have increasingly embraced modern information technology (IT) into their lives and often turn to websites for knowledge and learning. Teachers would be remiss if they did not adopt relevant IT platforms for educational purposes. With funding from the Australian Society for Parasitology (ASP), I have produced an interactive multimedia resource on parasitology that is freely accessible through the ASP website:
The initial version covered 30 different parasite taxa and was put on-line over a decade ago. I am currently upgrading the resource to cover 200 parasite taxa as well as general parasitological themes. New versions will be released on-line as available.
