Meet Our Directors

The NEVS directors oversee the running of the emergency hospital. The current NEVS directors are:

 

Jill King - NEVS Director

Dr Jill King

Pittwater Animal Hospital

Dr Jill King graduated from Sydney University in 1989. Early in her career she worked in mixed practice on the North Coast of NSW and then in England and Scotland. In 1993 Jill worked as an emergency veterinarian at NEVS in the early years of it’s establishment.
At the end of 1993 she took up a full-time position at Pittwater Animal Hospital, one of our founding veterinary practices.
Dr Jill has enjoyed practicing at Pittwater for the past 25 years and is a well respected local, family vet.
Jill has also worked part-time at NEVS since 2013 so is very aware of the intricacies and challenges of emergency veterinary work.
As a new director at NEVS, Jill has an excellent understanding of the emergency function as well as the important communication we have with our member vets. She has seen the service improve dramatically over the past 25 years with the emphasis on excellent veterinary care within a local cooperative setting.
Work life balance has been very important over Jill’s career. As well as doing such varied veterinary work, Jill has raised three children and is an involved and social member of the Northern Beaches community.

Jeffrey Lee - NEVS Director

Dr Jeff Lee

Forestville Veterinary Hospital

Born in Malaysia, Jeff Lee has a broad experience in veterinary medicine. A product of the veterinary school at the University of Queensland in 1975 under the Colombo Plan Scholarship scheme, Jeff pracised briefly on the Gold Coast before joining the faculty in the newly-established veterinary school in University Pertanian Malaysia (UPM). After studies at the Ontario Veterinary College(OVC), Jeff graduated with a Diploma in Diagnostic Veterinary Pathology and a Master of Veterinary Medicine and resumed teaching at the veterinary faculty at UPM in 1980. In 1983, Jeff became the Zoo Director of Malaysia’s National Zoo. During his zoo career he completed an Executive MBA with the Cranfield University in England.

Jeff and his family moved to Sydney at the end of 1989, working briefly as an AQIS veterinarian and for ten years in marketing in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry with the likes of Coopers, Pitman-Moore, Jurox, Uncle Bens and Pfizer Animal Health. In 2000, Jeff decided to concentrate on veterinary practice once more and became a partner in Forestville Veterinary Hospital (FVH). Getting back to basics with the accumulated experience from a wider veterinary perspective from academia and research to the business world of the animal industry, Jeff has a profound understanding of how the business of caring for animals interacts with people who appreciate and value animals and have pets that are in fact a member of their family.

NEVS directors - Dr John Thirlwell

Dr John Thirlwell

Belrose Veterinary Hospital

Dr John Thirlwell graduated from Sydney University in 2004 and with over 10 years practising Veterinary medicine is one of four vets in his family (including the well-known Dr Chris Brown). A local to Sydney’s north shore John has treated animals large and small, practising small animal medicine and emergency care locally on the north shore and northern beaches as well as large animal and equine care in the Hunter Valley. With a wealth of local experience he has developed a particular passion for tackling tricky skin conditions and treating challenging tick paralysis cases, especially after eight years practising in emergency medicine with NEVS.

John’s passion for animals is evident in the extent of his feathered and furry family with nine pets including; Winston the Whippet, Henry the Cavoodle, Mia the Burmese, Eric the Siamese, Clyde a rescue domestic short hair cat, Mrs Mustard a rescue Indian Ring neck Parrot, Sir Waddlesworth a rescue Indian Runner duck, George a juvenile Children’s Python and Big Mamma a rescue Isa Brown chicken. Clyde, Mrs Mustard, George, Sir Waddlesworth and Big Mamma all live at the Belrose Veterinary Hospital and love spending their time with all the visiting clients and staff.

NEVS directors - Dr James Thompson

Dr James Thompson

Turramurra Veterinary Hospital

James grew up in Pymble attending Pymble Public School, then Knox Grammar. After graduation from the University of Sydney in 1992, he worked in country practice in England, Wales, and Scone (NSW) then at North Shore Veterinary Hospital. He has completed distance education courses in ophthalmology and emergency medicine and attended orthopaedic training conferences in Davos, Switzerland and Sydney. James completed his Membership of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in Surgery in 2004 and has assisted teaching surgery to vet students at the University of Sydney. In June 2012 the Centre for Veterinary Education of the University of Sydney published Dr Thompson’s article discussing the successful surgical treatment of abdominal masses in four dogs, awarding the paper a major prize. James completed his Masters in Veterinary Clinical Studies from Murdoch University in June 2014.

He has also volunteered on animal welfare programs in Indonesia and Africa, and serves on the Executive Committee of the ASAVA, a special interest group of the Australian Veterinary Association.

Jenny Wingham

Dr Jenny Wingham

Mona Vale Veterinary Hospital

Dr Jenny Wingham graduated from Sydney University in 1989. She has worked in a variety of veterinary practices throughout her career, beginning as a mixed animal (large and small) vet in Bathurst, then working in a number of small animal veterinary hospitals in NSW and Victoria before setting up her own practice in Melbourne, which she ran in partnership for many years.

Dr Jenny joined Mona Vale Veterinary Hospital in 2007 following an interstate move from Victoria and has enjoyed serving the pets and pet owners of the Northern Beaches ever since. She became a partner at Mona Vale Veterinary Hospital in 2012.

She enjoys the challenges of surgery and complex medical problems and has a particular interest in animal behaviour and the animal-human bond.

The significant role that veterinary care plays in the community is important to Jenny and she has been involved in many community events to champion this cause. She is a Northern beaches local and embraces the outdoor and community minded lifestyle along with her family (including 2 labradors, 1 moggie and 2 chooks).

Jenny has been a director at NEVS since 2019 and hopes to help drive its continued success-both as a world class emergency care veterinary facility and as a veterinary hospital that truly cares.

Caroline Wood - NEVS Director

Dr Caroline Wood

Collaroy Plateau Veterinary Hospital

Dr Caroline Wood is a local to the Northern Beaches with medicine running through her veins – her parents, Drs Richard & Suzanne Wood, have been GPs with a family-run medical practice in Narrabeen for the past 30 years. After attending high school at Ravenswood School for Girls she went straight to the University of Sydney to study veterinary medicine, which she graduated from in 2011. Caroline now co-owns Collaroy Plateau Veterinary Hospital with Dr Lewis Hunt, who shares her passion for serving the local community to the best of their abilities and improving the lives of both their clients and their furbabies.

As a director of NEVS, Caroline is keen to maintain the high standard set by previous directors in offering the community and local veterinary hospitals an emergency after hours service that is both cutting-edge and caters to the different needs of clients.

When not focused on the veterinary side of her life Caroline enjoys spending time with her husband, young daughter, and four creatures (two cats, Benjamin & Susan, and two senior rabbits, Pillow & Annabelle). As a passionate cook and gardener, she will just as happily chat to clients about her Thermomix, the hunt for a variegated Monstera at Bunnings, or the best time to prune citrus trees, as she will about animals.