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 currently overseas and will be returning to the Practice towards the end of the year. Natalie is off sharing her amazing knowledge and care with the pets of the UK.

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 special interests include brachycephalic surgery and care, and ophthalmology and endocrinology within the internal medicine field.

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.

Georgia is a 2020 graduate from the University of Melbourne, and has moved to Canberra with her partner to start her veterinary career at GVH. She has always had a passion for animal health and is excited to finally jump into every aspect of her role as a vet. She is particularly focused on making sure animals have the best experience possible whilst at the clinic.

Growing up, Georgia has always had cats, dogs and a myriad of pocket pets, and being a vet was the goal from a young age. She currently has with her in the ACT her three legged Cocker Spaniel “Seb” and her four legged English Setter “Theo”.

Kirsty grew up riding and competing eventing horses so has always thought she would work in an equine hospital, but when she looked into Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital she realised her dream job looked a bit different than she thought it would. This probably had something to do with her adopting her first cat, Captain Milo, in her  final year of vet school which started a love for cats and feline medicine! Her love for dogs started as a child when she watched 101 Dalmatians over and over again, which developed a soft spot for all black and white animals, especially if they have spots!

This is Kirsty’s first year in veterinary practice and she is currently equally interested in canine and feline medicine. She is excited to spend her new graduate year gaining experience in general health care, dentistry, dermatology, surgery, and more.

Outside of work, Kirsty is either training for CrossFit and Olympic weight lifting competitions, out with the horses, having brunch with friends, or travelling to Sydney to visit my family. She is very excited to be starting her career at GVH, and after being academically focused for the past 8 years, she is looking forward to enjoying her post-University life in Canberra!

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.

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.

When Clara first started working as a veterinary nurse in 2014, she knew right away that it was something she wanted to do for a long time and must say, it is a very rewarding career. However, when Clara started working at the Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital, she fell in love with the job even more. After joining this practice, Clara suddenly found her passion in surgical procedures and anything involving anaesthetic monitoring and pre/post operative patient care. As a nurse, you build very special bonds with our furry friends and is worth all the hard work and long days.

Putting her love for animals aside, she has a few other interests including spending time with friends and family or enjoying some Netflix shows until she falls asleep (which normally doesn’t take very long). Clara also likes to get crafty and create new things out of old wooden furniture and finds it very relaxing.

Peta has been with Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital since April 2019, in the role of Veterinary Nurse within the hospital.

With her comes years over 5 years’ experience from a number of different veterinary hospitals in ACT, NSW and QLD. She is amidst completion of Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing.

Her wholesome and inviting nature ensures not only her family and friends, but every client and patient that comes in to the hospital feels welcome and tended to. Her passions within the industry lie with anaesthesia and surgical nursing, and low stress animal handling. Every patient should feel the hospital could be their second home.

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 Maddy always knew she wanted a career working with animals. She soon turned that dream into a reality in 2017 where firstly she completed her Certificate II in Animal Studies as one of her school subjects before jetting off to the USA in 2018 for 4 months to teach horse riding at a summer camp located in Detroit, Michigan. When she landed back home, Maddy jumped straight into completing her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing at Goulburn TAFE where she was given the chance to undertake her first placement in a small mixed animal practice working with both small and large animals until she completed the course in 2020.

Nicole has been a veterinary nurse for nearly half of her life now, celebrating 15 years in 2021. Nicole has been Certificate 4 qualified for 12 years. She is one of those lucky ones who can honestly say she absolutely loves her job. As each year goes on, she is continually learning and advancing her skills too.

In early 2021, her family moved from SA to Canberra, as her husband is in the Air Force and was posted here. They both were born and raised in Adelaide and had never lived anywhere else, so this is an exciting, new adventure for them.

Nicole started at GVH shortly after arriving in Canberra and is loving it so much already. She was at her last practice for 12 years before coming here, and at a smaller, country practice in the Adelaide hills for 3 years prior to that, so she has a range of experience in different veterinary hospitals. Nicole’s interests are definitely with surgical nursing. She loves anaesthesia and surgeries. You will always find her most excited when an emergency caesarean or GDV (bloat) comes into the hospital. It’s the excitement and satisfaction after such a big surgery that keeps her so passionate for this job. You just never know what is going to walk in the door and no two days are the same!

Growing up in Adelaide, Hayley has always loved working with animals. She began her nursing career as a dog groomer, which provided the career foundations for her study and attaining a CertIV in Veterinary Nursing. Graduating as a qualified Vet Nurse in 2009, she has been fortunate since then to experience a varied career learning and working in large hospitals as well as mixed country practices.

Hayley and her family moved to the ACT at the end of 2021, and feel quite privileged to have started working at GVH since January 2022. She is passionate in providing a high level of deliberate, capable, and gentle nursing care whilst communicating with owners to help them feel at ease. She is always looking for opportunities to expand her knowledge and enjoys keeping up to date with the latest procedures, therefore providing best practice care.

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.

Since Alexis was young, she has always loved being around animals. She grew up with dogs, cats, chickens, guinea pigs, and rabbits. Their happiness is very rewarding and that has led her to pursue her studies about animals. In 2021, she completed the Cert II in Animals Studies and is currently finishing her Cert IV in Veterinary Nursing at CIT. Joining the GVH team was such an enormous blessing. She gets to do a job that she loves while also being able to broaden her knowledge when it comes to nursing and providing support in surgeries for your paw friends in need. Excited to meet and give your furbabies unlimited cuddles when they come in!

Outside GVH, you will usually find Alexis baking plant-based Dog treats in Rascals Treats, hitting PBs in the gym and spending time with her partner together with their 3 baby bunnies: Stormzy, Starlet and Saturn (The Scubelets)

Since she could remember, Lucy always wanted to be a vet……. that was until she started Vet Nursing and promptly fell in love with it!

Lucy came across to GVH looking for somewhere a bit bigger after 5 years in a small family owned Practice, and instantly made herself at home making jokes and always making sure everyone’s spirits are high even on tough days.

Her passions at work are surgical and dental nursing and giving her patients all the kisses!

Ronnie looks after all our accounts and bookkeeping requirements.

Growing up in Canberra with a strong interest and passion for animals lead Amy to join the GVH reception team in 2019. Working alongside such talented people has grown her passion for animal care leading her to manage our amazing reception team, cat adoption program and puppy classes. She has a strong interest in the beautiful wildlife we have here in the capital and looks forward to the huge array of wildlife we get to see and help here at the clinic. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing an animal gets a second chance at life thanks to you, our caring public and the amazing staff here at GVH.

Amy’s spare time mostly involves looking after her own furry, feathered, or scaled pets. She currently owns 14 chickens, 1 budgie, 1 cat, 1 dog and a lot of fish! Which is more than enough to keep her busy.  She looks forward to meeting all of your wonderful pets soon!

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. She has little cuties Winnie and Bellatrix the Belgian D’uccle chickens. Amy hatched them both last year and they are her little feathery children.

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.

Laura started working at GVH in January 2022, ever since being little I she has loved animals and has had many different types in her house including dogs, hermit crabs, fish and many different insects. Joining the GVH reception team has given her the opportunity to work in an area where she is surrounded by animals everyday and getting to work with amazing people.

While not at work, Laura is busy keeping a household together and making memories with her family.

Emma moved from regional NSW to Canberra looking for more opportunities and in July 2021 she had found her dream job working with the GVH family. Emma helps run puppy classes, which has been an amazing opportunity to teach puppy parents about the different aspects of caring for their new fur baby, and of course she gets to play with cute puppies! Emma has learnt so much since starting here and continues to learn everyday.

Her love for animals developed at an early age, she has always had pets around the house including cats, dogs, chickens and turtles. Emma has even raised 25 baby scorpions.

Emma is currently a fur mum to her beloved chihuahua Rigby, whenever she leaves the house he is always with her. They often go exploring and adventuring finding all the scenic places around beautiful Canberra.

Megan joined the team here at GVH in March 2022. She has a love for animals her whole life. She moved from Canberra to a farm in Gundaroo when she was nine, where they kept many different animals over the years. Megan learned so much, loved riding their horses, and spending time with their other wonderful pets and livestock.

Its been a dream of Megan’s to work with animals since she was a child so she feels very lucky to be a part of the family here at GVH. She has been welcomed with open arms and it’s amazing to be a part of a team which is just as passionate about animals as she is.

Eleanor joined the busy team here at GVH in May 2022. Having recently moved to Canberra she is enjoying the cool crisp Autumn weather. Since she was young she’s had a passion and enthusiasm for different type of animals. Growing up she has had experience with dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, yabbies, turtles just to name a few.

Her collection of animals currently includes Zara, the Lab x, and Millie the feisty DSH who loves a cuddle and the occasional swipe!

Working at GVH has been a great opportunity for her to mix her passion for helping people and learning about a variety of animals – maybe even handing out a treat or two in exchange for a pat! She looks forward to helping you and your pet at GVH!

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.

Chelsea has recently joined the GVH team as a Nursing Assistant/Kennel Hand and she is loving it!

She had a passion for animals her whole life and has always wanted to be a vet nurse which she is currently working towards. Chelsea has completed a Certificate ll in Animal Studies and is currently completing a Certificate lll in Animal Studies, following on from this she is hoping to complete a Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing next year.

Chelsea lives on a farm and has many pets including 4 dogs, 3 cats, 2 poddy calves, 2 rabbits, 3 horses, chickens, sheep and goats.

When she is not at work you’ll find her spending time with her animals or on the basketball court.

Amber is currently completing her Certificate III in Animal Studies with the goal of going on to become a vet nurse. She developed a love of animals at a young age, growing up on a hobby farm in Scotland. After moving to Australia, Amber grew up with horses, dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, a ferret and a pet sheep. She has recently relocated to Canberra from WA, bringing her Labrador and French Bulldog with her. When not at work, you will find her at the dog park or snuggled up with the pups.

Bin migrated to Australia with his family with a Mechanic background. After he settled in Australia, he began working in the accommodation industry and has been for over 8 years.

He joined GVH in March 2022, and is deeply encouraged by our words we live by “respect, unity , compassion, excellence” in the staff room. He is a great team player and very friendly.

Bin enjoys working with the perfect team.

Originally joining as a cleaner, Luke is now enjoying working as a Nursing Assistant/Kennel hand. Luke is currently studying at university to become a Physio and is constantly inspired by the care, dedication and compassion of his colleagues.

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.

Pradeep migrated to Australia with his family and started working as a Picker and Packer before working as a all-rounder cleaner. He has settled in Australia and loves what it has to offer.

He joined GVH in March 2022, and thoroughly enjoys working for the GVH team. He is a great team player and very friendly, and nothing is too hard for him to achieve.