Rebecca graduated from Murdoch University, Western Australia, with a Degree in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery in 1997. In 2004, she completed her PhD on canine parasitic zoonoses in tea-growing communities of northeast India, for which she was awarded the John Adrian Sprent Prize by the Australian Society for Parasitology. In 2006, she gained employment as a lecturer in Veterinary Public Health at the University of Queensland and in 2014 moved to the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Melbourne as a Professor of Veterinary Parasitology.

Prof. Traub has published over 160 international peer-reviewed papers and book chapters covering the diagnosis, epidemiology and control of canine endoparasites and vector-borne diseases, with much of her research based in the Asia Pacific. Dr Traub’s research expertise has been formally recognized through consultations for the World Health Organization, Food and Agricultural Organisation, The Gates Foundation, the Veterinary Pharmaceutical Industry, and other not-for-profit organisations. In 2019 Prof Traub was awarded the Bancroft Mackerras Medal for Excellence by the Australian Society for Parasitology.

Prof. Traub is a Founding Director of the Tropical Council for Companion Animal Parasites (TroCCAP) and currently serves as the President of the Australian Society for Parasitology.