Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital

Staff Biographies

The team at Anvet Beenleigh Surgery is committed to providing the highest level of veterinary care and customer service. Our team is financially supported to attend regular professional development courses and industry conferences in the pursuit of continued learning. All nurses are qualified or studying towards qualifications for the four-year Vet Nursing Certificate.

(Scroll down to read staff bios)

Michael Powell	Tamara Stegeman	Leonie Thom	Dawn Hughes	Casey Thomlinson
Kelly Irving	Rebecca McIntyre	Sarah Ellis	Amanda Long	Shae Whittaker

	Veterinary Surgeons
	Michael Powell, Senior Veterinarian Michael has been working as a vet for more than 13 years in both small and large animal practices, focusing on complex soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery. He grew up in Toowoomba and moved to the big smoke of Brisbane to complete his vet degree at the University of Queensland, graduating with first class honours in 1994. Michael has worked in practices around Queensland, including Cains, Kingaroy and Walgett, and also abroad. Over a 10-year period, he managed a number of small animal practices in the United Kingdom, spending time in London, Eastbourne and stints in the Yorkshire dales - classic James Herriot territory. He has travelled the world extensively, to the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Canada, Alaska, America and Mexico, and now lives on the Gold Coast with his wife and their daughter, son and terrier. In his spare time, Michael loves to surf and go beach camping with his family.
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	Tegan Pringle, Associate Veterinarian Tegan was born in Brisbane and grew up on the Sunshine Coast with a menagerie of pets including a horse, birds, cats and dogs. In 2006 she graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science with First Class Honours from the University of Queensland. Her experience includes five years working at a small animal primary care and emergency centre in Adelaide and a small animal practice in the United Kingdom. She joined Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital in 2012 and is passionate about feline medicine and loves to tackle challenging cases. In her spare time Tegan loves to cook and is also a keen traveller, having travelled through Europe, Thailand and Egypt.
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	Tamara Stegeman, Senior Veterinarian Tamara's Bio Coming Soon
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	Leonie Thom, Senior Veterinarian Leonie brings great veterinary experience to the Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital team with a particular passion for soft tissue surgery and solving difficult cases. She is currently completing a post-graduate course in Emergency Medicine through the University of Sydney. Her love of animals was ignited from childhood, growing up on a wheat and sheep farm in Yarrawonga in country Victoria. She went on to study her Bachelor of Veterinary Science with Honours at the Melbourne University and was “broken in” in practices in Swan Hill, Victoria; Launceston Tasmania; and in Blackburn, Melbourne. Leonie joined Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital in 2008. Her beloved pets are Meg the nutty German Coolie dog and cats, Molly and Harry, who both provide a great challenge for nurses while on the consultation table but are dream pets at home. While Leonie is a marvel in the vet hospital she isn’t good at everything – i.e. sitting still. She loves tennis, karate, mountain bike riding and bushwalking. She is also one of the few to trek the challenging Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea and has travelled all over the world, including to Japan and Europe.
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	David Woolaston, Associate Veterinarian David has a Bachelor of Veterinary Science from James Cook University and has worked for various small animal practices. He also completed an internship at Sydney's Taronga Zoo in 2010. He has special interest in animal behaviour, imaging, exotic animals and oncology. David joined Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital in 2011. He loves rock climbing, swimming and travel and recently lived in Germany for 12 months.
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	Veterinary Nurses
	Anna Graham, Practice Manager Anna was born in Leicester, United Kingdom and moved to Australia in 2011. She brings to her role as manager at Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital 13 years experience as a veterinary nurse, as well as being a qualified training assessor and animal behaviourist. In England, she worked for nine years as head nurse of a team at a very large Tier 3 pet hospital (the highest standard in the UK). In 2010 she volunteered at the Bali Animal Welfare Association for two weeks while on holidays. Anna loves to travel the world, get along to music gigs and festivals and scuba dive. She is learning to surf and dreaming of buying a jet-ski. Anna is a softie when it comes to fostering pets. Recently she fostered a gorgeous black Collie cross Kelpie dog that she suspects may just stick around.
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	Dawn Hughes, Office Manager Dawn was born in Manchester, England and moved to Australia in 2005 with her husband, a born and bred Aussie. She has been working as a vet nurse for the past 16 years and is currently studying practice management. Dawn joined the Anvet Beenleigh Surgery staff team in January 2006 and as Office Manager plays an essential part in keeping the practice running smoothly. She loves to read and travel the world, so far to Canada, Fiji, Israel and parts of Eu rope. Her pet is an accident-prone tortoiseshell kitten called Kellogg.
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	Sara Message, Head Veterinary Nurse Sara was born in East Sussex, United Kingdom. Her love of travel has taken her around the world and also brought her to Australia. She fell in love with the country and in 2010 joined Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital. In England she worked in a busy small animal practice in Sussex for five years before working in small and large clinics around Australia, including a practice in Brisbane specialising in orthopaedics and soft tissue surgery, two of Sara's main professional interests. She is also passionate about intensive care nursing and feline medicine. Sara has a farmyard of animals at home, including Timba the fat Bengal cat, Tess the ancient Border Collie, Bisto the Welsh Cob horse, and Dory the Bearded Dragon lizard.
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	Kelly Irving, Deputy Veterinary Nurse and Canine Reproduction Unit Manger Kelly joined Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital in 2010, having worked as a veterinary nurse for the past 15 years and completing a Certificate in Veterinary Nursing in 1998. For 13 years of her career she worked in a large 24-hour hospital caring for both small and large animals. She has also been involved in extensive research on the Ixodes Holocyclus Tick (the paralysis tick) and tick paralysis itself and also new product and drug registration studies. Kelly started working in the interesting field of canine reproduction 13 years ago and has developed great skills in this area, which she is able to contribute at Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital's Canine Reproduction Unit. She is also passionate about her involvement with the new pioneering stem cell therapy service offered by Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital. When she's not at work she loves to explore the outdoors while camping, fishing and four-wheel driving with family and friends. She has two adorable greyhound dogs, Gindy and Benji, and a 12-year-old cat called Thalia.
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	Sarah Ellis, Qualified Veterinary Nurse and Puppy Preschool Trainer Sarah was born in London and arrived in Australia in 2006. She gained her veterinary nursing qualification in England in 1997 and worked at small animal practices in west and central London. She joined Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital in 2006 and loves to tackle challenging medical and surgical cases as well as studying animal behaviour. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys horse riding, camping and fishing with her family and friends. She has travelled the world, including to Switzerland, Norway, France, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Her pets include four guinea pigs called Lilly, Bessie, Farley and Moo. She also has a Golden Retriever called Keira whom she suspects is the best dog in the world.
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	Amanda Long, Veterinary Nurse Amanda works part-time with Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital, assisting with surgeries. She has a special interest in orthopaedics and medical nursing, having worked as Head Nurse at an orthopaedic referral centre in Manchester, United Kingdom. She has a beautiful bouncy Springer Spaniel puppy called Winston.
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	Shae Whittaker, Qualified Veterinary Nurse Shae was born in Melbourne and gained her Certificate 4 in Veterinary Nursing there. She worked for seven years at a small animal practice where she assisted in the cattery and managed the boarding facility. She joined Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital in 2010 and has a special interest in nurse consultation, dental care, weight consults and medical cases. Shae enjoys horse riding and running and loves her pet cats Squirt and Frankie. Shae has owned Squirt since she was three days old. She was the only cat of her litter to survive and required three-hourly tube feeding and bottle feeding for the first few weeks of her life. Shae adopted Frankie at just eight weeks old through Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital's Cat Adoption Program. Of course, Shae only intended to look after Frankie for one night but that was a long time ago!
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	Casey Tomlinson, Trainee Veterinary Nurse Casey has completed her Certificate 2 in Animal Studies and is completing her Certificate 4 in Veterinary Nursing. She joined Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital in 2010 and is passionate about new and interesting nursing cases, as well as laboratory works and anaesthetics. Casey loves road trip holidays and going on new adventures, whether bush walking or travelling the world. Her pets include two puppies, two cats, a parrot and two snakes named Hamish and Diego.
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	Jennifer Batchelor, Trainee Veterinary Nurse Jennifer has been nursing in small animal practices since 2008 with a professional interest in reptiles, medical nursing and emergency surgical nursing. She joined Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital in 2011. She loves her pets Wiggles the naughty cat, Noodles the fat cat and Snickers the black-headed python. Her hobbies include Muay Thai and she loves to camp and explore the great outdoors.
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	Kim Craven, Customer Services Officer Kim was born in Papua New Guinea and grew up in New South Wales and Queensland. She came on board with Anvet Beenleigh Pet Hospital in 2011. She has three pet dogs, including two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels named Buzz Lightyear and Belle. She loves to watch her children play sport and catch up with friends.