Obituary: Rod Chevis – <scp>AVA</scp> member 1967–2025

Rodney (Rod) Alfred Francis Chevis was the third-born into an impoverished working-class family in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1931, in the depths of the great depression. He was educated at State primary and secondary schools near Wellington, New Zealand and, while he maintained a place in the top 25% of the class, he was not inclined to put too much effort into schooling – though he did represent the secondary school in rugby, athletics and swimming. Despite his lack of application to his studies, he passed the University Entrance examination in December 1948 at the age of 17. Lacking funds to enter university immediately, he got a job in the NZ Forest Service and then ran afoul of the then brand-new Military Training Act in New Zealand. This found him undertaking compulsory military service or what he termed “advanced boy scouts” where he reached the “elevated” rank of lance corporal in the 1st Field Regt, RNZE. In 1955 he was awarded a bursary (scholarship) by the New Zealand Government to study vet science at Sydney University, which he completed in 1961. During his studies he supplemented his government bursary with jobs at PE Sykes – then one of the largest small animal practices in Sydney – and with the Australian Jockey Club where he learned how to handle excited thoroughbred horses, as well as their equally emotional owners and jockeys. In 1962, Rod returned to New Zealand to repay the New Zealand Government for the bursary by practicing in New Zealand for a minimum of 4 years. He started in Wairoa, Northern Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, and followed this with a role with the New Zealand Department of Agriculture as the Senior Scientific Officer – first in Canterbury, then at the Taieri Veterinary Diagnostic Station, Mosgeil. Part of the role of a Senior Scientific Officer was to investigate poor growth and development in hoggets, and he was able to prove the cause to be a combination of selenium deficiency, internal parasites and poor quality autumn/winter pasture. This particular work fired Rod's enthusiasm for research, and he went on to study parasites for the rest of his life. It was his hobby and his profession. In 1967 Australia beckoned, and having repaid the New Zealand Government for their generosity, Rod found his first job in the niche he had chosen. He landed a job as Research Scientist, Geigy Australia Ltd, later Ciba Geigy, located at the company's R&D facility, Western Rd., Kemps Creek, NSW. Being the only vet on staff, his first responsibility was to make a contribution to the design of the research facility at Kemps Creek in Western Sydney. Thereafter, he was engaged in R&D on internal parasite control in sheep, cattle and dogs – screening several hundred new molecules for anthelmintic activity – as well as training the sales force. The testing of one candidate anthelmintic revealed that it caused transitory blindness in sheep and cattle. Investigation of the histological and biochemical responses to the compound (nitroscanate) provided the data which was the basis for his MVSc thesis ‘Experimental Retinal Degeneration In Sheep’, in which he defined the biochemical and histopathological changes in the retinae of sheep treated with a therapeutic dose of nitroscanate. In 1972, Rod took the position of Research Veterinarian, Ethnor, in charge of the Company's R&D facility, Burragorang Rd. The Oaks, NSW. He developed this facility from an open paddock to a then world-class facility. Most of the work at the Ethnor Field Station was related to internal parasites of cattle, sheep, goats, horses and pets, but he also became involved in parasite control in the dolphins and snakes at the Wallacia Safari Park, and a variety of animals at Bullens Animal World. Both attractions are now defunct—their real estate absorbed by the new Western Sydney aerotropolis. He was responsible for generating data to support registration applications for Ethnor products in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, and for supervision of the compilation of the applications in Australia and New Zealand. Work done on a then new anthelmintic, mebendazole, provided data which was the basis of his FRCVS thesis ‘Studies in the Evaluation of the Anthelmintic Mebendazol’. The compound had the efficacy expected of a benzimidazole anthelmintic against gastrointestinal parasites but was the first member of the BZ drench ‘family’ shown to be active against liver fluke. His team was also able to show that mebendazole was the first chemotherapeutic agent active against hydatid cysts in humans, and it was soon in clinical use in all parts of the world. In 1978 Rod became the Veterinary Technical Manager, Roche-Maag Pty. Ltd. At Roche-Maag he had extensive and frequent contact with the retailers and users of the company's products and, for some months, became the advisor to a feeding trial with young crocodiles. In 1981 he became the NSW Agriculture State Director of Animal Disease Control. This was an administrative position which did not thrill Rod much; however, contact with Departmental and Pastures Protection Boards (now Local Lands Services, LLS) veterinarians gave him a fascinating picture of the state of health of the livestock of NSW and the ACT. In one instance, the intelligence provided by the field staff allowed his prediction of the onset and progression of a sheep blowfly wave across the state. Furthermore, he was able to link the wave to an increase in internal parasite burdens in sheep. Farmers were, thus, forewarned and forearmed. In 1981 he was awarded the degree of Master of Veterinary Science from the Department of Veterinary Pathology and Bacteriology, University of Sydney, and in 1982 he was promoted from member to Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in London (FRCVS). In late 1987 he learned that the State Government intended to relocate the Head Office of NSW Agriculture to Orange, a move which would not have suited his family life. He therefore applied for a research position, located at Glenfield Veterinary Research. He pursued further work on the effect of oxygen-derived free radicals on gastrointestinal parasites and at the same time was also in charge of the Biochemistry Section. This work he was to pursue more fully through his later PhD. In 1989 Rod undertook his PhD at the ANU in Canberra, graduating in 1991. His thesis topic was: ‘Some effects of Free Radicals in Parasite Infections.’ Rod then started his own consulting company, assisting companies active in the animal health market with R&D advice and the compilation and presentation of registration applications for new products or extensions for existing products. Over the years he had clients domiciled in the United Kingdom, United States of America, Germany, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. They included multinationals and small private companies with products developed for sheep, cattle, goats, pigs and horses. Anti-ectoparasite products, disinfectants, fungicides and feed additives featured in this work, but the longest single consultancy lasted 17 years and concerned the supply of collagen from cattle hides to be air freighted to the UK and thence processed to emerge as a sterile wound dressing for humans. Rod was elected to the board of directors of the Moss Vale Rural Lands Protection Board (now LLS) in October 2002, and became Chair in 2004, then Deputy in 2008. In addition to his major works, Rod published more than 14 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and gave countless talks about…you guessed it…parasites, to farmers' groups, Rotary and other organisations. He published many articles in rural subject matter magazines. He was a member of a number of professional associations, including the Australian Veterinary Association since about 1967, and Equine Veterinarians Australia since about 1990. Australian Society for Parasitology, since 1967. Throughout his life he had academic appointments including Visiting Fellow, Department of Zoology, Australian National University (1981); Guest Lecturer, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney (1983); Adjunct Reader (Associate Professor), Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Australian National University (1994). Towards the end, Rod was beset by dementia and Parkinson's Disease, so much so that he needed 24/7 care. Rod passed away on 16 February 2025 at the John Goodlet Manor in Picton, NSW.

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