Dr. Joe Hanekom is a clinical scientist working and teaching first opinion small animal veterinary practice. Dr. Hanekom joined the Department in 2016 as a lecturer at the outpatient clinic of the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital. Dr. Hanekom lectures small animal medicine for dermatology, multisystemic and musculoskeletal sections. He has completed his PhD titled ‘Clinical and epidemiological investigations of Orbivirus infections in domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris).’ During these studies, he examined dogs as an atypical host of the African horse sickness. He identified bluetongue virus in dogs in South Africa which was not previously reported. His interests are varied and lie in the epidemiology of diseases in small animals, cross-species infections and the intersection of human and animal health. He has published articles on canine parvovirus, salmonella, African horse sickness, bluetongue virus and cancers in dogs. He has students working in Canine distemper virus, antimicrobial resistance and snake bites in dogs.