Rod Straw is a registered surgical oncology specialist with the Queensland Veterinary Surgeons Board. He has been working in the area of veterinary oncology since 1986. He trained in the United States becoming the world’s first veterinary Fellow in Surgical Oncology. He was Associate Professor of Oncology at Colorado State University before returning to Australia where he has been treating referred small animal cancer patients since 1995. He has worked in the areas of surgical, medical and radiation oncology for many years.

In 1997, he started Animal Cancer Care and moved into Brisbane Veterinary Specialist Centre in 2004. He later founded the Australian Animal Cancer Foundation which is a not-for-profit research charity.