Nigel Cook is a Professor in the Food Animal Production Medicine section of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Veterinary Medicine. He qualified as a veterinarian in 1992 and worked in a large food animal clinic in Southern England for four years before moving to the Royal Veterinary College, Hertfordshire, where he spent three years as lecturer and head of the Large Animal Ambulatory Clinic. Since 1999 he has been in Wisconsin, teaching veterinary students, performing research and developing outreach to improve dairy cattle well-being. His particular interests include lameness prevention, cow comfort and improving facility design. He developed The Dairyland Initiative – a resource to drive the creation of welfare friendly cattle housing in 2010, and launched the Dairyland Initiative Podcast in 2024. He is currently Chair of the Department of Medical Sciences, Past President of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners and was awarded the WVMA Veterinarian of the Year in 2019 and the AABP Award of Excellence in 2021.