Dr Ruth Kirk

My fascination with parasite life cycles began during my BSc in Biological Sciences at Westfield College, University of London. Working with the Public Health Engineering Group at Imperial College further stimulated my interest in aquatic science, followed by a PhD CASE studentship on Sanguinicola inermis, a blood fluke parasite of carp (Cyprinus carpio), at Royal Holloway, University of London in collaboration with Thames Water. I established a Fish Parasitology and Pathology Consultancy at Royal Holloway and was then appointed as an Associate Lecturer at Middlesex University, London. I worked on Anguillicoloides crassus, a pathogenic swim bladder nematode parasite of European eels, during a Leverhulme Trust Research Postdoctoral Fellowship at Exeter University and Royal Holloway. Subsequently, I formed my own aquatic consultancy company, Crucian UK, but then re-entered university life as a lecturer at Kingston University, London.