Companion Animal Health Centre (CAHC)

Peter is a UK graduate with 25 years experience in both general practice and specialist referral work. After spending five years in a private small animal hospital, he trained as a dermatologist in the USA and then worked in dermatology referral centres in Edinburgh, Bristol and Sydney. Peter is the only veterinary dermatologist in the world to have been board certified as a Diplomate in the UK, Europe and the USA, as well as having a PhD. He has trained nine dermatology residents, written two textbooks, published 68 scientific papers, and given over 200 invited talks and presentations. Peter is passionate about treating skin diseases and sees patients at the CAHC on a referral basis. Outside of work, his veterinary skills are occasionally called upon by Elsa, the Boxer dog, and the family cats.

Diane has been in the veterinary industry for 35 years, working in private practice as a Diploma Nurse and Practice Manager. She completed qualifications in Human Resources providing an improved work place for staff. Di has received a number of industry awards including Veterinary Nurse of the year, Zonta and Practice Manager Awards. She is a member of the Veterinary Nurses Council of Australia and remains passionate about teaching students to become graduate Veterinarians. Di has a special interest in Marketing and providing excellent client service. Di has been involved with the Companion Animal health Centre since its inception. Outside of the CAHC Di enjoys entertaining, cooking and runs a bed and breakfast with her miniature Dacci Mouse and her rescue cat Ruskin.

Paul graduated from Melbourne University in 1995. After initially working in mixed practice, he soon focussed on small animals. His career has allowed him to travel and work both around Australia and overseas. After a 3 year tour of the UK, he returned to Adelaide where he pursued a special interest in Emergency and Critical Care medicine. Paul currently divides his time between working in the general practice at the Companion Animal Health Centre and in a suburban practice. His ever increasing menagerie includes a dog, three cats, three birds, two fish. The partridge is coming when the Pear tree is fully grown.

Julia has worked in small animal veterinary practice for many years, much of it running her own practice. Over the years, she has been privileged to meet and care for thousands of pets and their owners. Julia is now very excited to be based at the CAHC with a team of likeminded people working in state of the art facilities. Julia's special interest is cats and she has passed the membership examination of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in feline medicine. But canines needn't be concerned – Julia loves working with dogs and at home her four Burmese princesses have to share their palace with two rescued dogs!

Prior to becoming a vet, Ursula obtained degrees in biology and aquaculture, something that would prove to be very useful later in her career. She graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Queensland in 2003 with 1st class honours. She initially started in large animal practice but made the change to small animal practice where she gained an enthusiasm for the challenge of small animal medicine. Working in a large 7 vet practice, as well as doing numerous locums, has given Ursula a wide variety of experiences, not only of general and emergency cases, but also of avian, exotic and fish practice (we said her aquaculture training would come in handy!). Some of the more unusual things she has done include assisting with desexing monkeys from a private zoo, ultrasounding a Taipan snake and treating a pet spider (which inspired her to get her own bird eating spider!). Having worked with so many unusual pets, Ursula understands that the human animal bond can come in many forms and all of them are as important as each other. She is enthusiastic about working with clients and their pets to improve their health and well being in a compassionate and understanding manner. Her family includes her husband, two daughters, two dogs including one with three legs, one cat, two Corellas, two Cockatiels, a very talkative Cockatoo and too many aquarium fish to count. Unfortunately, the bird eating spider passed away and while her daughters are young she is postponing getting another one at this time!

Margie McEwen graduated from Sydney University and then worked in mixed practice in Australia and England.  She is a member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in the Emergency, Anaesthesia and Critical Care chapter.  Margie completed a residency training program in veterinary anaesthesia at Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New York, and in 2002 she became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Anaesthesiologists.  For the most part Margie has worked as a clinical anaesthesiologist in veterinary teaching hospitals at Washington State University and Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.  The majority of her experience is teaching all aspects of veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia to students, interns and residents in a clinical setting.

Cate graduated from the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Cate enjoyed 11 years in mixed and small animal private practice in the United States and Canada before returning to the Atlantic Veterinary College to complete specialty training in veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia. In 2010 Cate completed her residency training program and Master of Science degree and is now eligible to become a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Anaesthesiologists. Cate’s particular interests include constant rate infusions during inhalant anaesthesia, as well as local anaesthesia techniques, in small and large animals. Cate’s two dogs “Burdock” and “Wallace” love to people-watch in the Companion Animal Health Centre, and her cat “Percy” keeps the dogs in order.

Anthony gained his veterinary degree from the University of Sydney. Having an interest in research and marine mammals he then successfully undertook a PhD program in marine mammal respiratory anatomy & physiology at the University of Adelaide. After a brief post-doctoral diversion into animal models of human disease he decided to bring his interests in the respiratory system and wildlife together by specialist training in veterinary anaesthesia. This he did at the University of California, Davis after which he became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists. Since then he has had the pleasure of anaesthetising species ranging from mice to elephants with many in between. Anthony has recently joined the anaesthesia team at the CAHC and in his spare time enjoys cat-herding (Gordon Bennett & Fluffy), photography, music and cooking

Peter is a UK graduate with 25 years experience in both general practice and specialist referral work. After spending five years in a private small animal hospital, he trained as a dermatologist in the USA and then worked in dermatology referral centres in Edinburgh, Bristol and Sydney. Peter is the only veterinary dermatologist in the world to have been board certified as a Diplomate in the UK, Europe and the USA, as well as having a PhD. He has trained nine dermatology residents, written two textbooks, published 68 scientific papers, and given over 200 invited talks and presentations. Peter is passionate about treating skin diseases and sees patients at the CAHC on a referral basis. Outside of work, his veterinary skills are occasionally called upon by Elsa, the Boxer dog, and the family cats

Anne received her veterinary degree from The University of Sydney. After some years enjoying mixed animal practice in Australia and the UK, she chose to specialise in the treatment of animal cancer. Anne trained to be a specialist at the University of California and became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in the specialty of oncology. In 1994, she was the first vet to become a Fellow of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in the speciality of oncology. Anne wears 3 working hats, directly helping animals with cancer in the CAHC, teaching veterinary students, and conducting cancer research in the laboratory and in the clinic. Anne came to Adelaide from snowy Maine in the USA, and in her spare time is keenly learning about and cultivating Australian native plants to attract birds to her new garden. Her cats approve of the goal, but disapprove of their exclusion from the garden!

Julie started working as a Veterinary Nurse for Dr Alistair Brown who gave her an opportunity to do something she loves, working with animals. Throughout those early years Julie completed her level IV Veterinary Nursing credentials and gained valuable knowledge working in a veterinary practice. Throughout her career Julie has worked in an Emergency centre, a mixed practice dealing with Equines small animal practice and Surgical and Dental Nursing. Her main passion is care of the patients having completed an American Pain Control Course and furthering her credentials in Dentistry, which are her areas of interest. She has continually furthered her knowledge base by completing relevant courses along the way. Julie now enjoys working in a state of the art, purpose built Pharmacy stocking a diverse and up to date range of medications including chemotherapy agents and allergy testing kits. She also works closely with Pharmaceutical companies conducting pharmaceutical trials endeavouring to help the industry improve medication resources. Julie is looking forward to a bright future with the Veterinary School and enjoys seeing all the students on Campus

Jess began her career in the animal industry in a retail capacity four years ago. She is now completing her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing and has also completed courses in Animal Nutrition, Dog Behaviour and Puppy Preschool. Jess coordinates the Companion Animal Health Centre's Puppy Preschool program and is extremely enthusiastic about contributing to the development of happy, confident puppies and responsible, well-educated owners. Jess enjoys all aspects of veterinary nursing at the Companion Animal Health Centre, but particularly appreciates being part of such a compassionate and knowledgeable team and working in the state of the art facilities. In the future Jess hopes to enhance her skills in the area of anaesthesia and gain some experience in Large Animal Medicine. When not at work, Jess enjoys spending time with her dog Crystal (who was rescued by the RSPCA and treated at the CAHC) and heading to the beach for abysmal attempts at fishing and diving.

Matt has been in the animal industry for 15 years, with qualifications in Animal Husbandry and a Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing. Matt has worked extensively in small animal practice and has special interests in emergency and surgical nursing. He is also experienced in wildlife care. In his spare time, he is a member of the State Emergency Service and Urban Search and Rescue. Matt has a good sense of humour and likes to make the working environment a happy place. He is keen to share his skills and life experience with trainee vet nurses and student veterinarians.

Hayley has worked in the Veterinary Industry since 2006 when she began her veterinary career as an animal attendant in a local veterinary clinic. She started her Veterinary Nurse Traineeship at the beginning of 2007 and completed her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing in 2009. Hayley has since undertaken several other courses relating to anaesthetics, emergency care, parasite prevention and animal nutrition. Hayley finds veterinary nursing to be an exciting and stimulating profession. She has a special interest in surgical and anaesthetic nursing, but has a diverse range of skills. Hayley takes pride in her work and is constantly looking for new opportunities to learn and is excited about working in such a state of the art facility with such caring and dedicated staff.

James was able to enrol at TAFE NSW whilst studying year 10. He completed certificate 2 in Animal care over year 10 and 11 and then went on to study certificate 4 in veterinary nursing in his final year of school. He finished certificate 4 whilst in his first semester of Animal Science at Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga NSW. He decided to take a personal leave at the end of semester 1 and started applying for veterinary nursing positions.  In late September 2010, James travelled interstate to start work at CAHC. James is most passionate about anaesthesia, surgical nursing and CPR, but finds the all of the nursing jobs that come his way very rewarding.

During her 12 years of working for a disability charity, including 7 years in Sri Lanka (where she met her husband George!) and India, Jen decided to have a career change and returned to study to follow her true passion and became a qualified vet nurse in 2009. During her time living in Asia, she fostered and re-homed many injured and sick stray animals, volunteered with street dog desexing programs and also helped out in an Indian vet clinic. Since her return to Adelaide she has been working in small animal practices. Jen joined the Veterinary Health Centre in 2011 on a part time basis, enjoying it so much that she jumped at the chance to join the after-hours emergency team. Jen has two furry kids, Penny, a car ride loving red Kelpie and a cheeky young cat named Leon. In her time off Jen loves to travel anywhere in the world with George, go camping with friends and family, see live bands and cook spicy food.

Heidi has always had a passion for animals (her family calls it an obsession!). She came into the animal care industry through the Animal Welfare League about 9 years ago, first as a volunteer, and then as a staff member. Before coming to Roseworthy, Heidi worked in a veterinary practice in the Adelaide northern suburbs as an animal attendant. Heidi takes great pride in caring for animals in the CAHC. She has recently taken on the role of looking after our visitors from the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP), who graciously allow us to use their wonderful dogs as "living teaching aids" for the veterinary students before they are rehomed. Heidi feels extremely fortunate to work with the greyhounds, and feels it is the best part of her job. When not working, Heidi likes to take time out by listening to music, watching movies, reading, gardening, spending time with her pets and bushwalking. She is also interested in animal behaviour and native wildlife.

Biography coming soon...!?.

Biography coming soon...!?.

Biography coming soon...!?.