34 ICRAV 2026 Endogenous androgens, such as testosterone, are critical for both human and equine sexual development and lifelong physical health. Circulating levels vary considerably between males and females in both species. Medical conditions may result in over- or under-production of testosterone, and this can have significant consequences for afflicted individuals. Therapeutic medications containing testosterone have been developed for use by those who require hormone replacement therapy. These products, or more commonly counterfeit and black-market forms, have been used illegally for performance and image enhancement - to increase muscle mass and strength, or improve recovery from injury and intense training. To enable the detection of testosterone doping, anti-doping laboratories world-wide have conducted extensive research over decades to develop sophisticated testing techniques. The responsible international organisations, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), have subsequently published technical documents and guidelines to harmonise laboratory analysis and reporting of testosterone positive cases. ABSTRACT Dr Brooker received his BSc (Hons) and PhD from Sydney University, in partnership with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited Australian Sports Drug Testing Laboratory (ASDTL, part of the National Measurement Institute, NMI). In 2010, Lance was a guest researcher at the Belgian WADA laboratory (DoCoLab, University of Ghent). He returned to ASDTL in 2011 as Scientist responsible for isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and from 2015 was leading a team of staff responsible for all anabolic steroid testing. From 2020, Lance was also made responsible for the Steroidal Module of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) within the ‘Sydney Athlete Passport Management Unit’, a collaboration between ASDTL, Sport Integrity Australia and Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui (NZ). Lance is a former member of the World Association of Anti-Doping Scientists QA committee and WADA ABP and IRMS Working Groups and is regularly engaged as an ABP external expert for WADA accredited APMUs. Lance’s research interests include improving the doping control of anabolic steroids, estimating doping prevalence and understanding societal use of performance and image enhancing drugs. He is currently Science Manager at the Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory (Racing NSW). Dr Lance Brooker Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory, Racing NSW, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Dealing with problematic substances “situations”?! Testosterone: Differentiating Natural Variation and Doping in Human and Equine Sports
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI3ODI1