Urs Giger received his veterinary degree from the University of Zürich, Switzerland, where he also pursued his doctoral thesis on the surgical repair of hip dysplasia, initial clinical training in small animal medicine and surgery and postgraduate research work. After moving to the United States, he completed a residency in small animal internal medicine at the University of Florida and then joined the faculty of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where he had the endowed Charlotte Newton Sheppard Professor of Medicine chair. He had a secondary professorship in small animal internal medicine at the University of Zürich Switzerland as well as professorship in hematology at the Medical School University of Pennsylvania. He is a diplomate of the American and European College of the Veterinary Internal Medicine, as well as a diplomate of the European College of Clinical Pathology. He headed the Transfusion and Hematology Center and Pediatrics and Genetics Clinic, and was the director of PennGen - the Metabolic Genetics, Hematology, Transfusion Medicine, DNA Genetic Disease Testing Laboratories. His clinical and research expertise and interests are in hereditary and hematologic disorders and are reflected in over 250 original research publications as well as many more reviews and scientific abstracts. He was also chairing the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) Hereditary Disease Committee for more than a decade. Among other awards, he was the recipient of a Transfusion Medicine Academic Award from the National Institutes of Health, the 2002 WSAVA International Scientific Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2007 International Bourgelat Award from the BSAVA, the 2015 AVMA Excellence in Feline Research Award for outstanding clinical research in feline medicine, the 2018 Ramsey Distinguished Lecture Award, the 2020 International Canine Health Scientific Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2023 ECVCP Hall of Fame award. He is a frequently invited speaker at national and international conferences.