After graduating from the Queensland Agricultural College (which became the UQ Gatton Campus) with a Queensland Diploma in Animal Husbandry in 1963, Dr Dowsett went on to complete his Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 1970 and PhD in 1983 at UQ.
Before joining UQ as a lecturer in veterinary medicine in 1975, he worked as a husbandry officer within the Beef Cattle Husbandry Branch of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries.
He is deeply committed to the training of the next generation of Queensland veterinarians, particularly in the area of equine medicine, continuing to teach and train long into his retirement from UQ in 1997.
Between 1985 and 2004, he supervised the studies of 19 PhD, masters and postgraduate diploma students, based both in Australia and overseas.
He worked as a part-time teacher and trainer for St Joseph’s Nudgee College and the Queensland Racing Training Centre at Deagon and returned to UQ on a part-time basis between 1998 and 2000, teaching first and fourth year veterinary science students in equine husbandry, equine reproduction and equine nutrition.
Dr Dowsett has authored or co-authored more than 50 articles for refereed journals and books and written more than 30 articles for horse industry journals.
He is highly regarded in the industry and was called upon by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries in 2007 to work in the Equine Influenza Veterinary Investigations Section during an EI eradication program.
He has Honorary Life Membership and a Special Award from the University of Queensland Veterinary Student Association and, in 1999, won the Peter Irwin Literary Award from the Australian Equine Veterinary Association.
