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 26 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 (who believes he is actually a bunny, thanks to his best lop-eared mates, Pillow and Annabelle). 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 and her husband Jas have recently welcomed their first child, Lily, in to the world so she is currently working on a part-time basis.

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. In his (infrequent) spare time,Lewis can be found speeding around on his bicycle, or frequenting the coffee shops of theNorthern Beaches clad in Lycra.

Dr Margot graduated from the University of Sydney in 1979 and initially worked in Parkes and then Narrabri in rural NSW in mixed practice (small and large animals), enjoying the country life. She returned to Sydney in 1985 and jumped right into life in the big city, working at a number of small animal practices & larger specialist hospitals whilst also teaching at TAFE. Margot completed a Masters Degree in 1996, looking into the biological effects of diagnostic ultrasound. Margot began working at CPVC in 1994, and bought into the practice with Dr Gary Boston in 2000. Now, having sold the practice to Drs Caroline and Lewis, she enjoys practicing part time, whilst volunteering with Pets in the Park, an organisation that provides medical help to pets of the homeless population of Sydney, and perfecting her golf swing. Margot has owned a number of different Kelpies and cats of various hues and personalities over the years, but is sadly currently petless, since the loss of her two aged cats and speedy little three-legged Kelpie in the last two years, so she can often be found snuggling our patients and Butternut in order to get her daily animal fix.

Dr Nan is one of our part-time veterinarians – but she is also a medical student! After graduating from Veterinary Medicine at the University of Sydney in 2013, Nan worked in the Hills area with Dr Caroline for one very productive and exciting year before embarking on a Veterinary Medical Internship at the Animal Referral Hospital in Homebush. Soon afterwards she made the decision to specialise in just two species (men and women!), and so now works weekends at CPVH and studies human medicine during the week. Dr Nan shares her home with her partner, two beloved dogs (Widget and Whizzy), and a constant stream of foster kittens. She loves cuddling up on a rainy day with a novel, as well as spending time with family and friends, and eating exotic foods.

Elise studied Veterinary Nursing at Tafe in Ultimo and Richmond, graduating in 2013. She then spent 18 months working at CPVH before being enticed away by a job at a large veterinary hospital in Brisbane, where her husband was working at the time. Whilst up north, she realised just how much she missed the team at CPVH, and she returned and took up the position of Head Nurse in 2016. At the end of 2016 Elise married her childhood sweetheart in the beach-themed wedding of her dreams, and their little family of three (including Pickles the pug) recently expanded to include a daughter, Cooper. Elise is currently working with us on a casual basis while she focuses on her new role as a mum.

Eloise is our new, and very beloved, practice manager. She has had many years of experience in practice management in the human world, but was on the hunt for a position that could unite her incredible skill set in management with her very caring personality when she realised that CPVH could be the perfect fit; we couldn’t be more happy to have her. Eloise and her family have made the Northern Beaches their home since 2010, when they emigrated from the UK. She shares her home with her husband and two lovely daughters, as well as their four legged best friend, Willow the Schnauzer. Her family has grown since being at CPVH, where she has discovered a love for rabbits, and has recently adopted two mini lop-ears! When not at CPVH or running around between after-school activities, Eloise loves to relax at home with her family and friends, spend time at the gym, and explore the many gorgeous beaches nearby her home.

Elyse joined the clinic as a casual nurse 2017, and has become an integral part of the team at CPVC. She graduated as a Veterinary Nurse in 2012, and worked at a number of clinics around the Northern Beaches before having her beautiful daughter Indi, and deciding that a sea-change (no pun intended!) and some stability at her local clinic was in order. 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 the clinic 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 who she married in the wedding of her dreams in 2017, Indi and their gentle giant, Marlo, an American Staffy cross.

Kate is the newest member of our team at CPVH. She fulfilled her lifelong dream of finding a career working with animals in 2017, by completing her Certificate in Veterinary Nursing, but remained at TAFE for another year to study Zoo Keeping! Having worked at a couple of other clinics before joining our team, Kate has brought a wealth of knowledge and skills with her. Kate is a seasoned traveller, having already visited Europe, New Zealand, America, Canada, Caribbean and the UK, and she hopes to continue her global explorations in the years to come. Her home has been a regular menagerie in the past, having owned fish, rabbits and dogs, and she currently shares it with two gorgeous Golden Retrievers.

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!