When Dr Julia Crawford was named as a 2025 AVA Fellow recipient, it was a proud moment in her distinguished career. Receiving the honour alongside her friend and former classmate Dr Stephen Page, Dr Crawford reflected on the journey that brought her to this point.
“It was wonderful to receive this remarkable honour in my hometown of Sydney along with my friend and classmate from the University of Sydney, Stephen Page.
“I am proud of the accomplishments of the time including the achievement of ensuring vets were essential services during the pandemic.”
When I first joined the NSW Division more than 18 years ago, I never dreamt it would lead to such an incredible journey from a small animal, city GP into understanding and connecting with our veterinary community where I’ve made so many wonderful friends across the country and the world. I am presently in my third AVA presidency – first NSW, then National and now ASAV – and am as passionate about this profession as ever.”
AVA NSW Division featuring Julia Crawford (centre)
Dr Crawford’s path to leadership within the AVA was shaped by a mixture of opportunity and encouragement. Advocacy was something she first experienced through her children’s school P&C, and it soon became a theme throughout her career. Her business partner at the Bondi Junction Veterinary Hospital, Dr Tony Mosman, had led the Sydney Metro Branch for a decade before stepping down, and a well-timed conversation at a Branch dinner saw Dr Mark Lawrie encourage her to nominate for the NSW Division Committee. From there, she found the AVA both welcoming and inclusive. At the same time she joined the National Advisory Group for Veterinary Nursing at the request of Dr Kersti Seksel and served on that committee for seventeen years. She is passionate about the contribution and professionalism of Veterinary Nurses.
Her contributions to the AVA have been extensive. Since joining the Board in 2014 as the Australian Small Animal Veterinarians nominee, Julia chaired the Policy Advisory Council, and contributed to several other key committees including Nomination, Remuneration, Risk, and Audit. She was concurrently Chair of the Animal Care and Management Industry Reference Committee and was elected AVA President in 2019.
Dr Julia Crawford during her time as AVA President, 2019
Dr Crawford’s decades of service have spanned some of the most challenging moments for the profession: from responding to the Hendra virus outbreaks and fighting for laboratories to stay open, to ensuring essential service status for veterinarians during the pandemic – a result she credits to the support and expertise of Dr Melanie Latter, AVA’s National Manager for Policy and Veterinary Science. She was also heavily involved in the “Love is Blind” campaign with the RSPCA, and has continually advocated for the profession, drawing from both her own experiences and the insight of her AVA colleagues.
“During my NSW Division Presidency, we had the biggest outbreak of Hendra in NSW. The politics and advocacy associated with testing, educating vets and horse owners was intense, particularly as we were also fighting lab closures,” she said.
Julia Crawford at AVA with Mel Latter and Robert Johnson.
Through all of this, the sense of community within the AVA has stood out as a highlight for Dr Crawford. She describes being part of the AVA as a “wonderful, valuable experience”, one she is happy to continue as long as she can. She is looking forward to the ASAV Conference in Cairns this month, “There is still time to come up and join us,” she commented.
“It’s wonderful being part of a veterinary community, a lot of hard work, and great collegiality.”
You meet veterinarians from completely different backgrounds and opposing views and it’s challenging and strangely fun working out the commonalities that we have. We all do different things, but we ultimately have the same goal as AVA Members”.