Flavia Zendri received her degree in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) in 2015 from the University of Bologna, Italy, after which she moved to the United Kingdom to undertake a Master’s degree (MSc) in Veterinary Public Health at the University of Glasgow, focusing on the transmission dynamics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus between people and companion animals. Flavia worked some time in veterinary mixed practice in the Scottish countryside before commencing, in 2018, her standard Residency under the European College of Veterinary Microbiology (ECVM) at the University of Liverpool supervised by Dr. Dorina Timofte. Flavia worked in the Liverpool Microbiology Diagnostic Laboratory for four years where she has been involved in clinical microbiology diagnostics, research and teaching activities. Her main professional interests are the diagnosis and control of veterinary infectious diseases, novel approaches for routine diagnostic application, FT-IR spectroscopy (IR Biotyper), antimicrobial resistance (AMR), infection control in veterinary hospitals, molecular and genomic epidemiology of AMR bacteria, and AMR surveillance amongst others. Flavia was the first enrolled ECVM Resident and is the first to obtain the ECVM Diploma by examination, in September 2022. Following her Residency, Flavia became Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool for her continuing research collaborations with the Department, particularly in the field of AMR and veterinary infection control. During this time, Flavia also went on an adventure to South America volunteering as a veterinary surgeon at a wildlife animal sanctuary for three months, working especially with primates and Amazon birds. In May 2023, Flavia was appointed Lecturer in Veterinary in Clinical Veterinary Microbiology at the University of Liverpool, returning to the Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology (VAPP) working in the VMDL. To expand her new academic role towards research independence, Flavia also enrolled on a part-time PhD in March 2024 alongside the main lectureship. Her PhD entitled "Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance in Companion Animal Clinical Infections and Veterinary Environments in the UK" has the dual aim to generate standardised AMR surveillance data in clinical isolates from dogs and cats obtained from UK-based veterinary diagnostic laboratories (the VetCLIN AMR project [https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/infection-veterinary-and-ecological-sciences/research/vetclin-amr/] funded by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate under the Private Laboratories Initiative) and to investigate the occurrence of hospital-acquired infections in companion animal UK veterinary facilities in the UK and mapping their spread across animal, human and environmental sources. At the University of Liverpool, Flavia is also member of Biosecurity and infection Control and of the Mentorship Committees of the School of Veterinary Science and she is an internal exam moderator for vet students in their 4th and final year of the degree. Professionally, Flavia was member of the European Network for the Optimization of Veterinary Antimicrobial Treatment (ENOVAT), of the ESCMID Study Group for Veterinary Microbiology (ESGVM) and the European Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (EAVLD). In addition, she is Chair of the Residents Committee of the European College of Veterinary Microbiology (ECVM), coordinates the Residents journal clubs and other activities like the ECVM Training Schools as well as serving the the Organisational and Scientific Committees of ECVM annual Conferences.