Paolo Dalla Villa is an Italian veterinarian, EBVS® European Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law, working at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G.Caporale" in Teramo/WOAH Collaborating Centre for Animal Welfare. From 2012 to 2015, he operated as a Seconded National Expert at the European Commission (DG SANTE) on the development and implementation of the EU policies on animal welfare, with reference to international cooperation and the protection of companion animals. From 2016 to 2020, he was appointed as Head of the Italian Reference Centre for Veterinary Urban Hygiene and Non-Epidemic Emergencies (IUVENE) and ran the Secretariat of the WOAH Collaborating Center Network on Veterinary Emergencies (EmVetNet). Later on, he joined the WOAH Sub-Regional Representation in Brussels, where he was tasked with developing and implementing the activities of the WOAH Platform on Animal Welfare for Europe on veterinary disaster preparedness and response. He finally moved to the WOAH Standards Department in Paris, where he currently provides technical-scientific support on animal welfare, with a focus on dog population and disaster management, at the global level. Dr. Dalla Villa has been actively involved in the management and coordination of the veterinary activities conducted in support of the Italian Civil Protection System in the aftermath of the natural disasters that hit Central Italy in 2009, 2016 and 2017. He is coauthor of several papers and recently published an after-action report on "Veterinary response to non-epidemic disasters: the experience of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “G. Caporale” after the 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy" in the New Zealand Veterinary Journal.