Dr Caroline is our resident medical genius, and owns the clinic along with Dr Lewis. Her parents, Dr Richard & Dr Suzanne Wood, have been local GPs with a family-run medical practice at Narrabeen for the past 30 years, so she knows the local area very well. Going straight into uni after high school, she worked as a veterinary nurse at Pittwater Animal Hospital & occasionally at CPVH throughout her veterinary medicine studies until she graduated from the University of Sydney in 2011. She initially spent three years working at a busy veterinary hospital in Castle Hill before returning to her beloved Northern Beaches at CPVH in late 2014. It didn’t take her long to realise that Lewis’ surgical skills complemented her medical and practice management abilities, and so their brilliant business partnership was formed in 2015. Caroline is the ultimate crazy cat lady at heart, and has raised and re-homed a plethora of orphaned kittens since embarking upon her veterinary career, including her own two cats, Susan and the slightly neurotic Benjamin. Caroline’s other great passion is cooking, and apart from the frequent amazing cakes she brings in to the clinic she has also gotten the entire staff list addicted to her homemade chilli jam. Caroline & her husband Jas have two daughters, Lily & Tara, and Caroline is currently (partially!) on maternity leave so is working sporadically and will return to regular part-time hours early next year.

Dr Lewis is our resident surgeon, as well as co-owner of CPVH. His father, Dr Tony Hunt, owned Figtree Veterinary Clinic in Lane Cove for many years, so veterinary medicine &practice management flows strongly through his veins. He graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2007 and spent the next six months working in the Gold Coast prior to accepting a Surgical Internship in Melbourne. Following his internship he spent three years locuming around the UK, before settling into a small animal practice in London, coincidentally owned by another Australian! He returned to Sydney in 2013, with a wide range of medical and surgical experience under his belt, to work in both emergency medicine and general practice before joining CPVH in 2014. When Caroline and Lewis met that year they soon realised that they complemented one another perfectly as business partners, and so took over the hospital together in late 2015. Lewis has also recently starred as one of the new Bondi Vets in Bondi Vet: Coast to Coast on Channel 9. In his (infrequent) spare time, Lewis can be found speeding around on a mountain bike or playing with his mischievous cat Boston.

Alex is yet another one of our multi-talented vets; not only is she a fully qualified experienced veterinarian, but she is also studying a degree in Theology!

Alex grew up on Sydney’s North Shore, and met Caroline at university where they studied veterinary medicine together. They bonded over their love of books, strong tea, and all things veterinary. After graduation, she worked a number of clinics around Sydney for a few years prior to moving to Yorkshire in England for a wonderful stint of medicine, rolling green hills, and (you guessed it), more tea!

When not busy working or studying, Alex enjoys cuddling up with her geriatric (and slightly cranky) Cocker Spaniel Bailey, spending time with family and friends, knitting, reading, and being active.

Dr Ellen grew up near the Northern Beaches, in Mosman, and has always aspired to living in the area. After graduating from the University of Sydney in 2013 she moved to Canberra with her husband (also a vet!) and has spent the past six years working in a busy small animal practice there, minus a one-year hiatus to work in the UK and travel around Europe. Whilst living & working in our nation’s capital she fostered her interest in internal medicine, and discovered a love for performing ultrasounds, which she brought over to us when she joined our team in 2019.

When she is not at the hospital, Ellen can be found curled up reading on the couch with her ever-faithful cats, Colin and Arthur, and her loyal rescue Pug Cross, Topsy. Ellen also loves netball and yoga, and is looking forward to a time again soon when she can keep exploring the world. Ellen has just celebrated the birth of her first child, a son, and is currently on maternity leave. She is looking forward to returning to CPVH early next year.

Dr Felicia joined our team in early 2020. She studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Sydney, with Dr Caroline and Dr Alex, and graduated in 2012 after spending an additional year on a research project on stress levels in sealions at Taronga Zoo. She then spent a few years working for the pet division at Blackmores in research and product development before diving straight into clinical practice at a busy vet on the North Shore. She has a special interest in internal medicine and is currently completing a Distance Education course on working through complex medical cases through the University of Sydney.

Dr Felicia loves nurturing the strong bond between pets & their owners and has a particular soft spot for greyhounds, as she has her own ex-racing greyhound from GAP called Nala. She also has a mischievous 10yr old rescue cat called Cooper, and a husband, John. When not at work Fel relaxes by riding an off-the-track thoroughbred called Bobby, bush walking with Nala, reading, knitting, and cooking.

Eloise is our very beloved Practice Manager, who keeps us all in line (including Butternut, no easy task!) and ensures everything at CPVH runs smoothly. She started her practice management career in the human sector many years ago, but in more recent years decided to make the change into the veterinary world and has never looked back, as she loves being part of a compassionate and motivated team of individuals who share her love for animals.

Eloise and her family made the Northern Beaches their home in 2010, after emigrating from the UK. She shares her home with her husband and two lovely daughters, as well as their canine best friend, Willow the Schnauzer, and two mischievous indoor rabbits, Flynn & Oakey. When not at CPVH or running around between after-school activities, you’ll find Eloise in the kitchen cooking for her family & friends, or going on numerous walks, as sitting still doesn’t come naturally!

Looking for some work-life balance after owning her own business, Nicky joined CPVH in late 2019. With a background in hospitality and marketing Nicky loves chatting with people, and adores animals. She is known to many of our patients as the treat lady, welcoming everyone with a smile, with the ultimate goal of making every visit to the vet a good memory.

Nicky has been a local to the beaches for over 20 years, and lives with her two teenage daughters, husband Pete, and furbaby Molly the Moodle. She loves going to the beach, trying out all our amazing restaurants, and catching up with friends.

Nicky says working at CPVH has been the most rewarding job she has ever had, and she considers being there for people and their furbabies a pleasure and a privilege.

Leanne is one of our vibrant receptionists and has had a long career of chatting to people – after all, she used to be a hairdresser! She moved to Australia from the UK in 2007 and ran her own salon for six years, before switching to bookkeeping for a local business for the next few years. In mid 2020 Leanne decided she would like to try something new and began working for us at CPVH as one of our dedicated receptionists. She has always fostered a love of animals, particularly Border Collies & Labradors, and has two dogs of her own at home (Stewie & Millie), a cat (Kato), and three (as-yet unnamed!) goldfish.

When not chatting with owners or dishing out treats to pets, Leanne is kept very busy at home by her 3 year old son, Quinn, renovating her house, and enjoying interior design.

Eve decided to become a veterinary nurse to become more involved in animal welfare and to give a voice to the voiceless. She completed her veterinary nurse training with us and became qualified with her Cert IV in Veterinary Nursing in October 2019, and is registered with AVNAT. Her favourite aspects of being a veterinary nurse are the high paced environment (it’s never dull at CPVH!) and being involved in every patient’s health & wellbeing journey. Half Lebanese, Eve relaxes by cooking her favourite Lebanese foods, learning to read Arabic, and snuggling up with her 8yr old Maltese, Molly,

Chelsea grew up locally in Manly, in a household full of animals, including a dog, birds, snakes, lizards, turtles, chickens, and mice! After high school she studied a Bachelor of Communications at UTS, though her love of animals never left her, and after working casually at Taronga Zoo during her studies she realised she wanted to switch career paths to work with animals full time.

Following the completion of her degree she became a qualified zookeeper with Taronga and has spent time in a variety of keeping areas, including carnivores, reptiles, Australian fauna, and marine mammals.

Although her favourite animal is the Australian sealion she decided to expand her knowledge of domestic animals, and her horizons, by studying Veterinary Nursing and working with us at CPVH. She is soon to be the proud mumma of a Tonkinese kitten, and spends her spare time reading, cooking, and visiting the beach as often as possible.

Elyse joined the hospital as a casual nurse in 2017, and has since become an integral part of the team at CPVH. She graduated as a Veterinary Nurse in 2012, and worked at a number of veterinary clinics gaining invaluable experience before having her beautiful daughter Indi. Once a mother, she decided that some stability was in order, so she settled with her young family in Collaroy and has been with us at CPVH ever since. Since then, her common sense and ability to keep her head in a crisis has made her an invaluable part of the team, and we couldn’t imagine life without her!

Elyse has lived on the Northern Beaches her whole life, and, like any true local, adores her time at the beach. She shares her home with Lachlan, her husband whom she married in the wedding of her dreams in 2017, Indi, and their gentle giant, Marlo, an American Staffy Cross. Elyse is currently on maternity leave for the birth of her second daughter, and will return to work with us in early 2021.

Where would we be without the daily antics and cuddles of our beloved resident cat? Butternut, our young tortoiseshell cat, is always on hand to offer up hugs and affection, put dogs in their place, judge us from her perch above the consult rooms, and donate blood when we need to perform a blood transfusion on a hospital patient. On a perpetual diet, she is much larger than we would like (or like to admit), but at least we know when her tummy is full the bags of prescription food on our shelves are safe, as she has been known (on more than one occasion) to slash open a bag and help herself. Whilst her stomach might not agree with much prescription dog food, at least our clients are happy & very understanding when a Butternut-discount needs to be applied for packaging damage!

For more photos of Butternut and our patients, please check out our Instagram feed or Facebook page!