Ruth Zadoks is a veterinarian by training and currently Professor of Molecular Epidemiology at the University of Glasgow. Before coming to Scotland, she trained and worked in The Netherlands and the USA, combining clinical work, teaching, research and knowledge exchange activities. Her research initially focussed on mastitis and milk quality in dairy cattle but has since broadened to cover a wide range of bacterial infectious diseases affecting people, their animals, their livelihoods and our food security. Current projects include work on food safety in Tanzania, streptococcosis in fishes in Vietnam and mastitis in Colombia. Molecular epidemiology studies are embedded in an interdisciplinary One Health approach to understand sources and transmission routes of bacterial infectious disease and to develop technological or behavioural tools for their management and control.