Henriette van Heerden (née Britz) obtained a PhD at the University of Pretoria (UP) where after she joined the ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Onderstepoort, South Africa and worked on the Heartwater programme that completed the sequencing of the entire 1.51 Mb genome of Ehrlichia ruminantium. She is a associate professor in the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases (DVTD) at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa. At DVTD she estabhsied research groups, primarily focusing on anthrax and brucellosis. The brucellosis research group contributed towards bacteriology, molecular and serological characterization of Brucella species. The anthrax and brucellosis research group have expanded and international collaborations have been established. The anthrax group is collaborating with industry to develop acellular vaccine candidates into a commercial product. Part of the research is to expand awareness of zoonotic diseases in the wildlife and livestock industry. Awareness material has been developed - http://www.up.ac.za/audiovisual-products/article/258882/posters/ and an African Infection Diseases network (AIDnet - http://aidnetafrica.org/). http://aidnetafrica.org/ has been established.