Prof. Michael Pees has been the Head of the Department of Small Mammal, Reptile and Avian Medicine and Surgery at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover since July 2021. Since August 2024 he has been the Vice President for Research. He studied veterinary medicine at Justus Liebig University in Giessen. For his doctorate, he moved to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Leipzig University and carried out cardiac ultrasound examinations on parrots. After his dissertation, he habilitated in Leipzig in the field of avian and reptile diseases on infectious lung diseases in snakes. He was appointed Associate Professor in 2015. From 2019 to 2021, he was Vice Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Leipzig. His research focuses on infectious diseases in reptiles and birds, imaging techniques, and wildlife rehabilitation. He is a specialist veterinarian for ornamental, zoo, and wild birds, a specialist veterinarian for reptiles, a specialist veterinarian for poultry, and a double Diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (avian and herpetology).