Meet The Team

Dr Jarrod Coleman BVSc (Hons)

Owner and Veterinarian

Jarrod completed his veterinary degree at Sydney University in 1995, and has held a number of permanent and locum veterinary positions in both Australia and England. Jarrod arrived in Austinmer for a 12 week locum in 2003, but years later is still here at Austinmer vets!

Dr Warwick (Rick) Prowse BVSc (Retired)

Veterinarian

After graduation from the University of Sydney in 1971 Rick came to work at the Wollongong Veterinary Hospital becoming a partner in the practice in 1973 until leaving in 1995 to establish the Austinmer Veterinary Hospital.

Dr Brad Gorham BVSc

Veterinarian

Brad graduated from Sydney University with honours in 1984 and has been in small animal practice in either Newcastle or the Illawarra ever since.

Dr Ksenja Prejac Vucko BVSc (Hons)

Veterinarian

Ksenja graduated from Sydney University in 2006 with first class honours. With a Membership in Small Animal Medicine, she has a particular interest in canine medicine, possibly biased due to her love for her beautiful black Labrador called Ella

Dr Marielle Cleary DVM

Marielle graduated from the University of Sydney in 2019 with a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. She enjoys both surgery and medicine and is particularly interested in neurology, cardiology and soft tissue surgery.

Jenny North

Veterinary Nurse

Jenny has been one of our longest standing team members for over 20 years. She has a keen interest in dog training and behaviour and has taught puppy preschool for many years, she is known to our clients and dogs a like as the ‘treat lady’!

Tash Huzyliak

Veterinary Nurse

Tash started with Austinmer Veterinary Hospital in 2004 as a vet nurse student and has never left.

She is a familiar face at our Helensburgh Clinic as are her Pomeranian pups, Bentley and Porsche.

Being a local within the Northern Illawarra community, Tash loves meeting & greeting our clientele but also thoroughly enjoys working behind the scenes in anaesthesia with particular interest in dental procedures & caesareans. Her most memorable case was life saving surgery done on our old clinic cat, Patrick, after he was hit by a car.
“His recovery was long and seeing him pull through and transition from a nervous stray into an affectionate, clinic cat makes all the hard work worthwhile. “In her spare time Tash loves snowboarding  and can often be found chasing Winter around the globe.

Maddie Haglund-Gaunt

Veterinary Nurse

Maddie joined us in 1999 after finishing her psychology degree. Luckily for us she enjoyed all aspects of veterinary nursing and working with a fantastic team so much she never left and is now one of our senior nurses and office manager.

Rachael Bison

Veterinary Nurse

Rachael joined our team in 2012 when she was starting out in her veterinary nursing career. With her caring, compassionate personality and thirst for knowledge it quickly became obvious she was going to become an excellent veterinary nurse. She is now our nurse team leader at the Austinmer Veterinary Hospital. 

Rhianna Padwick

Veterinary Nurse

 Rhianna has been with us since 2015, she is a very experienced nurse with a love for the exotics. One of Rhianna's most memorable moments from the last 20 years of nursing was assisting to x-ray and splint the leg of a crocodile!

Shannon Newman

Veterinary Nurse

Shannon joined us in January 2018 as a volunteer TAFE student, she has successfully completed her Veterinary Nursing certificate and we are very happy she is now  a permanent member of our nursing team.

Maddie Jenkins

Veterinary Nurse

You will find Maddie at both our Austinmer and Helensburgh clinics, Maddie joined us in August 2019 and brought with her 5 years of nursing experience.

Laura Sakoff

Laura is the newest addition to our nursing team. She is an experienced Veterinary Nurse from New Zealand who now calls the Illawarra home. Laura worked in the Northern Territory when she first arrived in Australia and her most memorable nursing moments are working with the people and animals in the communities and the amazing places she got to see.

Rachel Kenworthy

Veterinary Nurse

Rachel decided on a career change in her forties and bravely jumped ship to complete her veterinary nursing work placement with us. Rachel excelled in her TAFE studies receiving an award for excellence. 

We are so happy Rachel joined the team at our Helensburgh Veterinary Clinic , She has a passion for surgical and medical cases and with her gentle, kind and caring nature your pet is always in good hands.

Rachel's other passion is her rescued Irish Wolfhound Cross Audrey, they are frequently at the dog beach, you can't miss Audrey she will be the tallest dog on the beach.

Amanda Shute

Veterinary Nurse

Amanda joined the team at our Helensburgh Clinic in 2020. With a love for surgical nursing, it’s no surprise one of her favourite cases was a border collie caesarean! "Being able to help deliver the 6 puppies and providing lifestarting care was so rewarding.” Amanda also has a keen interest in pet behaviour, training and has previously completed a sniffer dog course. 

She confesses to being Cavie crazy and is a proud mum to 3 King Charles Cavalier Spaniel girls, Truffle, Delilah and Bernadette, who all join her on the paddle board on her days off.

Ebanie Cartwright

Veterinary Nurse

Ebanie joined our team in early 2019 and now calls our Helensburgh clinic home.

With 12 years of nursing under her belt including a few years at the Sydney University Emergency Centre its no surprise that Ebanie has a passion for emergency medicine, she also enjoys behaviour and puppy training.

While most staff have the standard pet cat and dog at home Ebanie has a tank full of Yabbies and of course a few standard pets too.

Zsuzsa 'Suzie' Pasztor

Receptionist

Suzie moved to the Illawarra from sunny Cairns and joined our team in March 2021.She came with lots of experience from working as a veterinary receptionist in a large busy practice previously.

Suzie's passion is dog behaviour, training and puppy preschool, she is currently completing a dog training course with the Delta institute. She also has a soft spot for all felines and will often be found out the back cuddling and reassuring the cats in hospital and boarding. 

Suzie loves to be out and about exploring her new home with her 7 year old collie cross called Summer.

Molly Percival

Junior Veterinary Nurse

Molly started with us as a volunteer while completing her certificate 3 in animal studies in 2020. Since then she has progressed to a kennel hand and now works as a junior nurse, she has become a valued and fun member of our team.

Molly loves to make sure all of our boarding cats are pampered during their stay. She also has a keen interest in post operative care of surgical patients, making sure they are cared for and supported during their recovery in hospital and following up with their owners to see how they are recovering at home.

When not at work Molly loves spending time at the beach and with her her cat called 'cat'

Kaj Amnell

Junior Veterinary Nurse

Kaj has been apart of our team since September 2021 after deciding to make a career change from hospitality to Veterinary nursing.

Kaj's desire to learn, genuine compassion, love of animals and initiative is perfect for this industry.

Kaj has a keen interest in animal welfare and surgery, the most memorable surgery he has helped with is a dog that needed an exploratory laparotomy to remove a rock it had eaten.

Animal welfare and supporting various charities consumes a lot of his spare time he is also kept busy with his 4yr old labrador Flynn and playing mixed netball with the clinic team.