Our Staff

Michael is one of the lucky ones who knows what he wanted as a job, and managed to succeed in that goal. Michael wanted to be a vet from the age of 4, and his dream came to fruition in 1981.

He has been a vet in Canberra since 1983 (except for 12 months in Gundaroo and 2 and a half years in the UK), and started Gungahlin Veterinary Clinic with his wife Ronnie in 1995. For 6 years they practiced from their home in Nicholls, until the practice grew, and included his business partner Tony Wilson and a Specialist Surgeon Sarah Webb. They then moved into the current hospital in 2002 and changed the name to Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital.

Michael’s chief interests are the welfare, medicine and behaviour of animals. He believes that preventative veterinary medicine, especially in regards to behaviour, will enhance quality of life and reduce suffering for companion animals. While the profession has long practiced this in relation to vaccinations and worming, at GVH we concentrate on weight control, dental health, avoiding recognisable risks, and especially selecting and raising young animals to fit into your family and the community.

Greg grew up in Wagga Wagga, before travelling to the University of Sydney to study. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in terrestrial biology in 1996 before graduating with honours in 2002 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science.

After qualifying as a vet, he started working in mixed practice in Braidwood, NSW where he got to experience working with and treating a large range of animals, from horses to mice. Greg then spent two years in the United Kingdom working as a travelling locum, working in mixed and small practice in glamorous places like Scunthorpe in  Lincolnshire and Llanrwst in Nth Wales, interspersed with holidays exploring Europe. On return to Australia, he continued with locum work in Oberon and Townsville for a few months before starting at Gungahlin Vet Hospital in July 2007.

Donna is a born and bred Canberran. In 1994, after graduating from Sydney University with a Bachelor degree in Veterinary Science, she moved to Corowa NSW to work in mixed practice for two years.

In 1996, Donna’s thirst for adventure took her to the UK. Here Donna met her husband Ian and stayed for five years, much longer than the anticipated two. Working at a wide range of practices cemented her decision to concentrate on small animal practice, and in particular fostered a keen interest in feline medicine.

Donna moved back to Canberra in 2001 and joined the GVH team in 2004. Over the years, she has become dedicated to all aspects of small animal medicine, but always with a passion and emphasis on feline medicine where possible. Her dream of working in a feline focused hospital was realized in 2018 when Gungahlin Cat Hospital (GCH) was opened and she gratefully accepted the opportunity to work exclusively in this wonderful facility.

Marlene grew up on a beef and sheep farm near Warrnambool, in Western Victoria.  After graduating in Agricultural Science with first class honors and pursuing genetic research for a year, she then went on to study Veterinary Science at both Queensland and Melbourne University, graduating in 1996.  Marlene has worked in equine and small animal practice for her first few years in Victoria,  then moved to Brisbane to work in small animal practice.

Marlene took the opportunity to travel to the UK to work on the Foot and Mouth outbreak of 2001 and stayed  for 12 months working in disease control and restocking of farms.  She travelled home via Europe and Africa and started working at GVH in the newly opened practice in 2002 and settled in Canberra.

Since starting at GVH, she has developed her interest in small animal ultrasonography of the abdomen and heart after completing further study in 2013. She especially enjoys diagnostic imaging and surgery and continue to pursue and build her  skills and interest in these areas.

Colleen has always had a passion for animals and the human animal bond.

Colleen graduated as a Veterinary Surgeon in South Africa in 1997, and since has spent time working in the UK, South Africa and now Australia, gaining experience in many aspects  of small animal medicine and surgery.

She has been working in Australia since 2016, and at Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital since May 2019. Amongst Colleen’s many interests, she is particularly fond of dermatology and palliative care. Colleen’s gentle and compassionate nature ensures clients always feel at ease with decision making and your pet’s concerns.

Julianne joined Gungahlin Veterinary Hopsital in 2009 and with her came many years of experience in General Practice. Before working at Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital, Julianne spent 12 years in her own practice in Merimbula, NSW.  Prior to this in the years after graduation from Sydney University Julianne worked in both small animal practice in Sydney and mixed practice in Braidwood and the United Kingdom while also travelling.

Special interests in small animal medicine include neurology and gastroenterology, and Julianne continues to build upon her interests by combining international continuing education and her passion for skiing each year.

At home Julianne has another full time career caring for her 2 almost grown up children, 2 cats and one spoilt chicken “Rosa”. Her green thumb has her garden immaculate, and when able to get away you will find her enjoying the beaches of Merimbula or skiing and hiking in the Snowy Mountains.

Stephen graduated as a Veterinary Surgeon in 2009. His passion for veterinary medicine came slightly later in his career compared to our other vets after spending a long time with our incredible Australian Defence Force.

That being said, Stephen has been practicing as a veterinarian for 11 years, and has been working at Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital since October 2010. He enjoys working with all creatures great and small, but his companion animal passions lie with internal medicine, rabbit anaesthesia, brachycephalic surgery and medicine, and preventative hip care; being one of few veterinarians in the practice qualified to perform and interpret PennHip imaging and perform JPS surgery.

Richard grew up in Townsville, Queensland before moving south to Brisbane/Gatton where he completed a Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 2014 at the University of Queensland. From there he moved to North West Tasmania to work in a mixed/dairy veterinary practice for over 3 years, working with a wide variety of animals.

In 2018 Richard and his wife, Nicola, spent 6 months traveling throughout Central & South America before moving to the UK, where Richard worked as a locum vet (and explored parts of Europe) for 12 months. He has since moved back to settle in Canberra and has been working at Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital since the start of 2020.

Richard enjoys meeting new people and their pets and has a keen interest in small animal medicine and surgery.

Natalie is a 2017 CSU Bachelor of Veterinary Biology/Bachelor of Veterinary Science (Hon 1) graduate and has been working at GVH since October 2017.

Growing up on a cattle farm and surrounded by many pets, she grew fond of all creatures but now focuses her attention to small animal medicine and surgery. Her particular interests lie with internal medicine. Like many vets she has worked in the UK, spending time at clinics in the Isle of Wight, Gloucestershire, and Rochford in England, Mochdre in Wales, and Portadown in Northern Ireland in 2022. She has also spent a year working in Hobart, Tasmania in 2023-2024.

Sarah graduated from the University of Queensland in 2010. She grew up in Canberra before moving to Melbourne to work in rural mixed practice, then small animals with emergency after hours. Moving back to Canberra after starting a family, she has since come to join us at GVH in 2020 to continuing working with small animals.

With two young children and a magnitude of animals at home Sarah keeps herself very busy. Her special interests include horse riding, dog agility and camping.

Seonaid (weird Gaelic name, pronounced Seona) graduated from Sydney University in 2002 and began her veterinary career in mixed practice in Goulburn. From there, she did what most Australian vets did at the time, which was to go locuming in the UK, where she worked at numerous clinics and enjoyed some travelling on the side. She then returned to Australia in 2007 and decided to settle in Canberra in small animal practice. She has been working in a vet hospital on the South side for the last 14 years, but was finally convinced by husband, Greg, to come and work at GVH from December 2021.

Seonaid enjoys all aspects of veterinary work, especially some of the more challenging, problem solving it requires.  She loves helping owners help their pets and finds returning healthy, happy pets to their owners one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

Outside of work, Seonaid is a taxi driver for her 3 kids, a poorly skilled, but enthusiastic player in her soccer team, a coach of her daughter’s netball team and a carer for two dogs, two cats and two chickens.

Lindsay graduated from Scotland’s Royal [Dick] School of Veterinary Studies (Edinburgh) in 2004. She worked in mixed practice with ‘all creatures great and small’ and acquired a German Pointer along the way. She has an interest in neurology and so returned to University to complete a PhD, investigating a cell transplant therapy for pet dogs who had suffered a spinal injury. Later Lindsay completed an internship in anesthesia & analgesia at the Animal Health Trust in England.

Since then, Lindsay has worked part-time in small animal practice in England and Australia, moving back and forth since 2010 with family in both countries!

Outside of work, Lindsay is usually running or photographing Canberra’s fabulous wildlife.

Josie is one of our newest veterinarians, graduating from Charles Sturt University in 2024 with a Bachelor Veterinary Biology/Bachelor of Veterinary Science (Hons I). Josie grew up in the rural regions surrounding Canberra, raising poddy lambs and mustering cattle on horses. She went to school in Canberra where she excelled in science, and the veterinary field was a natural combination of her passions for animals and science.

Supported by the amazing GVH staff, she has hit the ground running and is loving getting her hands on the wonderful patients who come through our doors. She is looking forward to a long and illustrious career in the veterinary industry, and we are excited to have her on board!

Outside of work, Josie loves to hit the road with her rescue puppy, Bonnie, in search of new places to explore.

Michelle was born in Canberra and after High School moved to Darwin where her passion for Human Resources commenced after having worked with a Computer company in their training department. After 6 years in Darwin, Michelle moved back to Canberra and took on various HR roles in both government and private industries. She has over 15 years experience as a HR Generalist.

Michelle joined GVH in November 2021 as the Practice Manager and really loves the variety of work she does, where no two days are the same, and more importantly loves being part of the GVH family, who are extremely supportive of each other.

When not at work, you will find Michelle in her craft “she shed” her husband built her, along with her rescue dog Biggie, a male staffy who is the biggest sook and acts like a “human”.

Bri was born in Canberra and from a young age was passionate about wanting to work with animals. She studied her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing at CIT Bruce and graduated in 2017. She has been working at GVH since June 2016 where she started as a trainee nurse. Since then she has become a registered nurse and has now taken on the position of Head nurse.

In 2021 Bri was nominated by GVH and won the Covetrus Veterinary Nurse Champion Award. Receiving this award is definitely one of the biggest achievements in her nursing career.

Growing up she had many types of pets including horses, birds, fish, a lamb and the list goes on! Currently Bri has 4 fur babies; “Loui” a silky terrier, “Lady” a bull arab mix, “Harley” and “Cirrus” DSH cats. She also has a fish and cherry shrimp.

One of her special interests is the challenge of surgical nursing; she loves being a patient advocate from preoperative, during surgery to aftercare. It requires organisation, attention to detail, critical thinking and at times can be fast paced needing quick reactions to a patients status. She loves that each day challenges her with many patients facing multiple different surgeries.

Caring for injured or sick wildlife is also an area she thoroughly enjoys. Whether its crop feeding a fledgling or treating wounds on an injured joey. Being able to help wildlife until they find a carer who can nurse them back to health before being released is very rewarding.

Growing up in rural NSW, Arden has always been surrounded by animals. Her passion is to deliver the best quality of care to pets in need. She has worked in both small animal and mixed practice, and truly loves all animals big and small.

Arden studied her Certificate II in Animal Studies while in high school and she couldn’t wait to start her Certificate IV in Vet Nursing once she had finished; graduating in 2017.

In her spare time, you will find her hanging out with her cat Stanley, a DSH, that she has raised since 3 weeks old, and her Cattle dog X Kelpie, Rose.

Growing up on the South Coast of NSW and being surrounded by animals, Tanneal has always had a strong interest for a career in animal care. Early work experience opportunities with local veterinary hospitals led her to discovering Vet Nursing. She went on to complete her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing in 2013 & after a break from the industry, she relocated to the ACT to continue the dream and is now thankful to be a part of the team at GVH. While she enjoys all aspects of nursing, her special interests include surgical nursing & dentistry.

Tanneal’ s late Maltese x Shih Tzu “Norbet” held her heart for 17 years, and she strives to provide the same care to our patients that she would have wanted him to receive. She is yet to find a new fur-baby to spoil, so for now she just enjoys coming into work each day and giving all of her love and cuddles to her patients.

Outside of work she loves to travel – both interstate to visit friends and family and internationally to discover new cultures.

Kemily was born in Lima, Peru and moved to Australia with her mum when she was 2 years old. She  has lived in Melbourne and Sydney before settling in Canberra when she was 6 years old. Her dream ever since she can remember has been to work with animals, whether it be in a zoo, conservation or vet clinic, but being a vet has always been the lifelong goal.

Kemily has had many pets including a Jack Russel, two German shepherds, and a very special Staffy cross called Phoebe. She has had fish, two roosters, two guinea pigs, an axolotl, and now has a bull arab greyhound cross called Tito and a budgie adopted from GVH called Pepillo(aka Nigel). Having pets (and also her first trip to the zoo with her uncle when she was four) helped her realise further how much she love animals and how passionate she is about taking care of them because she knows how special and important they are.

She has volunteered in a vet clinic for the first time when she was 16 and also volunteered at the national zoo and aquarium in 2021. Kemily has travelled to Peru for the fourth time last year and volunteered at a local vet clinic for 2 months where she witnessed many interesting cases, bathed and groomed dogs, while also helping at a public event giving out free vaccines to the town pets and teaching owners how to take care of their animals.

Kemily is currently studying to be a vet nurse but some time in the near future she would like to take the time to accomplish her childhood dream of being a veterinarian and work overseas with larger animals, hoping to help rehabilitate and release wild animals back into their natural home while also travelling the world.

Originally from small town of Yass, Breanna is a local girl, having completed both her Cert II in Animal Studies and Cert IV in Veterinary nursing at the Canberra Institute of Technology. She has known from a young age that she would devote her career to the care of animals, having spent her childhood surrounded by the love and joy brought by a household full of three Jack Russell’s, Itsy, Chase and Breanna’s childhood dog and best friend, Hannah (named after Hannah Montana of course).

Breanna has recently moved away from her family and into Canberra to be closer to work. Although she wishes she could have brought Hannah with her, she didn’t want to separate the pals. She is missing having a dog in her life, Breanna recently made the decision to adopt her Springer Spaniel puppy, Zali! Zali is full of energy, always up for a play and has become a fan favourite at the clinic.

Breanna is passionate about advocating for her patients, ensuring they are comfortable and provided with the best care possible, whether this may be the medical treatment they receive, or all the love and cuddles she can give them! She enjoys surgery and radiology, and has recently picked up an interest in pathology, focusing on learning about more in-depth interpretations of blood work and slides.

Anastasia, originally from Rome, Italy, spent her first 11 years living between Italy and Russia. When she moved to Australia in 2011 with her parents, she fell in love with everything about the country. The people, culture, animals, and lifestyle have all had a significant impact on her goals and personality.

From a young age, Anastasia knew she wanted to work with animals, possibly even becoming a veterinarian. She started by volunteering at animal shelters and schools, including Pegasus RDA, AWLQ, the RSPCA, and even a dog shelter in Cusco, Peru.

Despite her love for all animals, she has a special passion for dogs. In her free time, she delves into books and new research on canine cognition and behaviour. She also participates in dog sports including SprintDog, Nosework, Trick dog, and Rally.

Anastasia is particularly fond of special needs dogs. She currently lives with a blind mastiff cross named Jellyfish and a red heeler cross named Clyde. Jellyfish’s journey has inspired Anastasia to write a guide for perspective owners of dogs who were born without sight. Her book, ‘Born Blind,’ is scheduled for publication in 2025. In addition to her book, she has also published a picture book titled ‘Zoodle Needs Some Space,’ which explores the story of a reactive dog and teaches readers how to help dogs like Zoodle feel safe.

Having grown up in regional NSW, Hamish has always had a heart for animals, a passion which led him to beginning his veterinary nursing career at a practice in Sydney in 2022. He has since grown a deep love for the veterinary industry, with a keen interest in surgical nursing and medical care. Hamish is of the firm opinion that veterinary practice is as much about the owners as it is about their precious pets, and always strives to bring a caring attitude to patients and owners alike.

Hamish started with GVH in early 2025 after moving to Canberra to continue pursuing tertiary studies in Health Science at the ANU, with hopes to pursue a career in professional medicine into the future. He has loved getting to know the wonderful team at GVH and having the opportunity to hone his nursing skills. Hamish loves tricky surgeries, medical imaging, and following complex medical cases.

In his spare time, Hamish loves playing tennis and squash, going mountain biking, reading, playing guitar, and spending time with his two cats Catsu and Yokota, his cockatiel Fudge, and his blue-tongued lizard Ashley

Dean joined the GVH family in December 2019, just in time for a big Christmas rush of dogs, cats and everything in between. He has always had a love for animals, with many pets growing up, but after working in IT for years, he never had a chance to work with them before GVH. This is the first job Dean has ever had that he can truly say he enjoys. He feels like he can make a difference; helping animals in any capacity is so rewarding.

As you can see pictured, Dean has a little cat. He is a rescue cat, his name is Watson and he was adopted through the cat adoption program here at GVH soon after starting work here. Along with his brother Wesley (my housemate’s cat), Watson is frequently doing important investigative work all throughout the house.

Amy joined the wonderful team at GVH in early 2021, and became Reception Supervisor in May 2022. She loved every second working with such a compassionate and skilled team and meeting our lovely clients and their beautiful pets! Joining the team during peak pandemic craziness has definitely brought the team all together and GVH is like a second family now. Amy loves that every day she comes to work something different comes through the door, and getting cuddles from all our patients is always a highlight of her day!

Growing up in Canberra, Amy has always been surrounded by animals, feathered, furred or scaled. She has owned and worked with animals her whole life which has lead her to some amazing experiences working with everything from snakes to elephants!

Amy is a bit of a crazy bird lady as you might be able to tell from her photo.

When she is not working, she spends time with her fiancé and time with her ever expanding flock of birds –  56 chickens, 8 geese, a quaker parrot. Amy absolutely loves anything with feathers and she has just started to show and breed her little chooks. She also has three crazy dogs, two horses, and two goats so its definitely a bit of a zoo at her house but she wouldn’t have it any other way!

Sasha joined the incredible team here at GVH in November 2021. She had a passion for animals since she was very young and had always looked for opportunities to be around them. She spent most of her school holidays as a kid working on various farms and at horse stables, as well as volunteering with local charities looking after senior dogs and teaching deaf puppies sign language.

Her collection of animals currently includes Pippin, the Greyhound x Kelpie, and Cece, her calico cat, as well as 5 rabbits, 6 Spinifex Hopping Mice, 8 chickens and a beehive, and she is always adding more!

Working at GVH has been a great opportunity for her to mix her passion for animals and her love for working with people and she enjoys every minute of it.

Keishan started working at Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital towards the end of November. She has always wanted to work among animals since she was little, volunteering to be a Zookeeper for a day twice.

Keishan has a small Pomerian x Poodle (shortened to Pomapoo!) named Sandy and she adores her even if she is a little crazy.

Keishan loves working amongst the team here at GVH, they are so welcoming and very talented in what they do. She is loving the many new things she is learning, not only through the staff but also through our clients and she cannot wait to learn more.

Tess moved from Sydney to Canberra in early 2024 to join our team and it has been by far her favourite place to work! She loves greeting everyone’s furry friends and learning more about animal surgeries and medical procedures everyday.

She has always had a passion for animal care, working previously at vet clinics and pet stores in Sydney, and completing certificates in animal care.

Tess has spent her whole life surrounded by pets, from dogs and cats to bunnies and birds. She is currently the proud mother of Kiwi the bunny and newly adopted Turbo the kitten.

Amber was born and raised in Canberra growing up with a range of pets from dogs, cats, rabbits, fish, guinea pigs and more!

Amber really loves working with animals but also caring for people who are in difficult situations with their fur babies.

She loves doing anything arts and crafts, adventuring and camping taking along her British Bulldog, Opie when she is not at work.

Tahneia started at GVH in June 2024. She has always had a love for animals, and always had pets growing up.

While studying to get her Bachelor Degree in Software Engineering, she volunteered at the RSPCA in Canberra twice a week. During her time working for 3 years in the IT industry, she started volunteering at the National Zoo and Aquarium (NZA) in 2022. Since then, she has also started working at NZA as an Education Guide. After falling in love with the role, she made the tricky decision to leave the IT industry and follow her passion for animals.

Tahneia would love to one day be a Zookeeper and would love to specialize in big cats. After starting at GVH, she is also considering going back to school to become a Vet Nurse.

Tahneia has two cats, Lana and Maggie, which she adopted as kittens from the RSPCA in 2021, and has loved being able to watch them grow.

Ronnie looks after all our accounts and bookkeeping requirements.

Pip has been a member of our support team since 2019. Her roles include administrative duties, stock management and ordering. Pip highly values supporting the important work of the clinical staff by keeping them stocked up and ready to go at all times.

At home, Pip runs a busy household of 3 school aged children, a husband and a very playful cat, Bob. Pip’s hobbies include eating out, board games and sewing.

Originally joining as a cleaner, Luke is now enjoying working as a Nursing Assistant/Kennel hand, cleaning as and when required and also takes on a lot of the maintenance work around the hospital.

Luke grew up with dogs, cats and birds, and has always been an animal person. He currently has his hands full with his American Staffordshire Terrier, Gannicus, and has helped foster dogs in the past.

Outside of work Luke enjoys playing music, miniature painting and cooking.

Brooke grew up on the south coast and has loved animals since she was little and knew a job looking after them was her dream. Growing up Brooke had dogs, cats, Guinea pigs and rabbits. Her childhood dog Romeo lived to 19 years old.

She has worked in a range of animal care jobs from dog daycares to Domestic Animal Services. She is new to the veterinary world but is loving it already. She hopes to learn as much as possible and go into vet nursing.

She currently owns three dogs: Dachshund, Husky and Weimaraner.

Outside of work she enjoys hiking with her dogs, cross stitching and reading.