Thomas Dijkstra was born on November 28th, 1957 in Enschede, The Netherlands. He studied at the Veterinary Medicine University in Ghent, Belgium and Utrecht, The Netherlands and he graduated in April 1986. He worked in two mixes practices, the ambulatory clinic of the Bovine Herd Health department of the Veterinary Medicine University Utrecht and ‘’Proefstation voor de Rundveehouderij, Schapenhouderij en Paardenhouderij, Lelystad, The Netherlands.’’ In 1988 he moved to GD Animal Health in Deventer, The Netherlands and his fields of interest are: animal welfare, abortion, neosporosis, M.a. paratuberculosis, and salmonellosis. He completed his PhD: ‘’ “Horizontal and vertical transmission of Neospora caninum” in 2002. He is a specialist of European College of Bovine Health Management since 2004.