Sonya Bettenay graduated from The University of Melbourne in 1980. She completed her dermatology residency and achieved board certification in veterinary dermatology with the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in 1991 and with the European College of Veterinary Dermatology in 2004. Until 1999, she was a director of the Animal Skin & Allergy Clinic in Melbourne, then joined the faculty at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University. There she was involved in teaching and consulting, and ran the dermatopathology service of the Diagnostic Laboratory, Colorado State University. Since 2004 she has run a dermatopathology consultancy service in Munich, Germany and worked as a Dermatology specialist. She is co-tutor with her husband Ralf Mueller in the CVE Dermatology Distance Education course. She has published over 60 articles, book chapters and books and has regularly spoken in Australia, Europe, Asia and North America. Sonya's major areas of interest are in dermatopathology, infectious skin diseases and improving patient management.