Darren Foster was born to British parents in Perth, Western Australia.  He was the FAB Scholar at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh from 1993 to 1995.                   

During my first year of veterinary school at Murdoch University (in Perth) I attended my first cocktail party, where the most striking attendee was a lovely six months old tortoiseshell cat called Kiki, who wandered through the crowd to greet me. The host of the party announced that he was looking to rehome her, as he was moving overseas.  I was the designated driver and, being sober, immediately hunted the house for a cardboard box, packed her up and drove home. Kiki started my love affair with cats.

Once I graduated, I knew within a short space of time that although I loved dogs, I especially enjoyed working with cats. Knowledge of feline medicine seemed quite limited and that surprised me – cats got interesting diseases and they appeared much easier to work with than dogs. I wondered why people were not developing feline medicine to enhance the quality of life of this amazing species. The answer to my question was already being addressed in my ancestral home – the UK. I heard of  feline residencies being offered by the Feline Advisory Bureau at Bristol, Edinburgh and Liverpool universities.  Desperate to stay in the UK and learn more about cats, I applied for them all!  I was lucky enough to gain the position at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh. My residency was enhanced by interacting with many enthusiastic and talented veterinarians and it was an exciting time to be involved with FAB as it was growing rapidly – it seemed the more we all talked about cats, the bigger FAB grew.

Following my residency, I stayed on at Edinburgh University, and completed a PhD investigating hyperthyroidism in cats.  After not seeing the sun for almost seven years I decided it was time to move back home and start seeing cats again in a clinical setting. I took a position as Feline Registrar at a large private referral hospital in Sydney and gained my Fellowship in Feline Medicine through the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists.