“…The first paper in this issue is an edited transcript of the address given by Emeritus Professor Mary Barton after she was awarded the Gilruth Prize at the Australian Veterinary Association Conference in May this year. 1 Mary has been a pioneer in the veterinary profession as a whole and in microbiology in particular. I first met Mary when we were both on the inaugural NHMRC Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee that was set up by Prof. Warwick Anderson, at that time working at the Baker Institute in Melbourne.…”