Gordon Hickman, Head of Exotic Disease Control, DEFRA

Gordon is Joint Head of exotic disease control in Defra, where he is responsible for preparedness, policy and legislation for exotic notifiable diseases, new and emerging disease threats and surveillance policy. This includes policy preparedness and response to disease outbreaks such as bluetongue, foot and mouth disease and avian influenza. Gordon has an honours degree in agriculture from Reading University. He joined Defra in 2004 having spent 20 years as an agricultural adviser with ADAS.He was awarded an OBE in January 2024 for services to animal health.