Meet the Team

• Dr Lawrence Baker Principal Veterinarian

  Dr Lawrence Baker Principal Veterinarian

  Prior to opening the Selwood House Veterinary Hospital Lawrence practised as a veterinarian in the Blue Mountains and at clinics in the UK, spending the majority of his time at a primary accession and exotic animal referral hospital in Leeds. In February 2014 Lawrence founded the Selwood House Veterinary Hospital and the following year integrated the Mid Mountains Animal Health Centre with Selwood House Vets. Lawrence has a keen interest in surgery and at Selwood House he aims to offer his clientele evidence-based, best practice veterinary care in a beautiful aesthetic environment. He lives in Blackheath with his wife Jess and their children Asher and Lilah and cat Molly, and when time permits he enjoys hiking, jogging, reading, gardening and awkwardly strumming an acoustic guitar.

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• Dr Mark Frost Clinical Director

  Dr Mark Frost Clinical Director

  Mark graduated from the University of Bristol and has practised as a veterinarian for over 10 years in the UK. In 2011, Mark and his wife Jennie visited Australia where he worked as a locum veterinary surgeon at a number of practices in Sydney. On returning to the UK, he worked for a practice in the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare, became a partner and director at a practice in Taunton and worked in a large vet hospital in North Somerset. However, Mark and Jennie could not get Australia out of their minds, so decided to start the process of visa applications and organising to move half way around the world. Having visited the Blue Mountains previously and having spent a lot of time here, they had fallen in love with our landscape and lifestyle. Mark has a particular interest in small animal dental health and dental radiography. Outside of his professional life, Mark has a keen interest in bushwalking & landscape/wildlife photography – what better place to be than the Blue Mountains!

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• Dr Lynn Mathison HR Director and Animal Behaviour Veterinarian

  Dr Lynn Mathison HR Director and Animal Behaviour Veterinarian

  Dr Lynn is a local girl, born and bred in the lower mountains. She now lives in Warrimoo with her husband (a fellow animal lover), 2 kids, 2 cats, 1 dog and 4 guinea pigs! She loves all small creatures, happily treating rats, rabbits and ferrets. Dr Lynn graduated from Sydney University with a B.VSc (Hons) degree and spent the first 2 years of her career at a practice in the lower Blue Mountains. Following a year with the RSPCA, Dr Lynn spent the next 20 years growing and leading one of the largest and busiest practices in the Western Sydney region. Becoming a Behaviour Veterinarian involved a year of post graduate study followed by 2 years of further study and entrance exams to be admitted as a Member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Veterinary Behaviour. Since then she has been providing highly sought-after animal behaviour consultations (along with general veterinary medicine and surgery) to the Western Sydney and lower Blue Mountains region. Dr Lynn also has a passion for photography, cooking and gardening, skiing, travel and spending time with her kids.

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• Dr Gemma Williams Senior Associate and Avian Veterinarian

  Dr Gemma Williams Senior Associate and Avian Veterinarian

  Gemma has been a Veterinary Surgeon for 34 years after graduating from Uni of Qld . She has worked in large animal, mixed, small animal & Avian practices between Lithgow & Penrith. Gemma has a Masters degree in Vet clinical pathology & a Membership of Australian & NZ College of Vet Scientists by examination in Feline medicine. She now focus’ on small animals, exotics & birds. Gemma joined Selwood Vet Hospital this year after being at Lithgow Vet Hospital for 14 years. She moved here to work with a dynamic very experienced team of 4 veterinarians in a beautiful, renovated heritage building. Gemma has developed a special interest in avian medicine after working for 4 years in a practice with a high avian caseload. Birds are not just feathered small animals, so it can be extremely hard to diagnose & treat birds without specialised knowledge of avian medicine. Being a bird vet requires a completely different skill set to being a small animal vet.

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• Dr Maddie Garnache Associate Veterinarian

  Dr Maddie Garnache Associate Veterinarian

  Dr Madie graduated from James Cook University in Townsville in 2014, and after working in a mixed practice for 7 years, has moved to small animal practice. Madeline has a passion for all kinds of surgery and internal medicine. Dr Madie has been with Selwood since 2022 and when she is not working, you will find her scaling cliff faces or abseiling through canyons.

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• Dr Amy Sparks Associate Veterinarian

  Dr Amy Sparks Associate Veterinarian

  Dr Amy joined Selwood house in January 2023, having over 13 years experience working in mixed, equine and small animal practices. She spent a year working in Samoa at a charity vet, and she spent 4 years working in Nova Scotia, Canada. Amy enjoys all aspects of veterinary medicine but she especially enjoys ultrasound, oncology, and soft tissue surgery. She competes in agility and other dog sports with her dogs Blue (a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever) and her new puppy Minty (an Australian Koolie). Amy, her partner Ben, and their twin girls Millie and Charlie, live locally, and enjoy being part of the blue mountains community.

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• Alana Howard Remote HR Manager

  Alana Howard Remote HR Manager

  Alana grew up in New Zealand on a dairy far,, where she developed her love for animals. Alana completed her veterinary nurse training in New Zealand in 2001, following which she worked in a busy mixed practice before moving to Australia. In Oz Alana has worked at a busy small animal practice, as well as a feline specialist clinic while also previously owning a pet shop. Alana recently relocated back to her home county of New Zealand where she lives with her 2 daughters, Max (Great Dane), Marley (Great Dane), Rosie (Domestic Cat), Rocket (Domestic Cat), Rusty (Domestic Cat) and finally all their sheep and cows! Alana has now taken on the role of remote head of relations manager while also managing our accounts.

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• Brooke Delaney Senior Veterinary Nurse & Practice Administrator

  Brooke Delaney Senior Veterinary Nurse & Practice Administrator

  Brooke joined Selwood House Vet Hospital in April 2022 bringing over 20 years of experience as a veterinary nurse. Brooke is highly committed to the welfare of her patients and has a deep passion for medicine and emergency work. She brings in-depth experience both to Selwood House and our after-hours emergency shifts at The Weekend Vets in Leura. Brooke manages day to day organizing for our team at Selwood, any client concerns and training our new nurses. Brooke loves living in the mountains with her family and pets; Iluka (Weimaraner), Prince (Kelpie), Emba (Kelpie x Rottie), Chewy (Domestic long hair), Billie Ray (Domestic medium hair), Lizzo (Bearded dragon) and Too (Goldfish).

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• Lesley Hooley Receptionist & Veterinary Nurse

  Lesley Hooley Receptionist & Veterinary Nurse

  Lesley is a mountain girl born and bred. Lesley is a fully qualified veterinary nurse who has been working in her role since finishing school. She has worked at a few of the local vets in the mountains. From working down in Penrith, to ending up here with us at Selwood House. Lesley lives a busy life with her kids and animals.

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• Tonya Halay Receptionist & Senior Veterinary Nurse

  Tonya Halay Receptionist & Senior Veterinary Nurse

  Tonya grew up in the Blue Mountains where she developed a lifelong love of caring for animals and nature. Tonya is a fully qualified veterinary nurse with 10 years of experience working in general practice clinics. She is currently working primarily in reception where she enjoys welcoming in our Blue Mountains Community.

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• Merin Foran Senior Veterinary Nurse

  Merin Foran Senior Veterinary Nurse

  Merin began her vet nursing journey over 15 years ago in the Blue Mountains, and during this time she has worked with small and large animals, exotics and native wildlife (including macropods, bats, reptiles and monotremes). She enjoys all aspects of nursing, especially surgical, behaviour, positive reinforcement training and anything to do with puppies! Merin is a long-time advocate for greyhound welfare, rescue and rehoming. When not at work, she loves exploring the dog-friendly hikes across the Blue Mountains with her partner and dogs. She also enjoys spending time on her family property in western NSW.

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• Miche Plessnitzer Senior Veterinary Nurse

  Miche Plessnitzer Senior Veterinary Nurse

  Miche has worked as a vet nurse since 2010. She grew up in the Blue Mountains. In her spare time, Miche enjoys reading and trips to the beach. She can also be found caring for her many animals, ranging from cats, dogs, snakes and even spiders, just to name a few!

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• Vanessa Renny Veterinary Nurse

  Vanessa Renny Veterinary Nurse

  Vanessa joined Selwood House in April 2024, after completing 2 weeks work experience with us. Having spent almost 13 years in education, both primary and high school. She embarked on a career change in August 2023 and enrolled to study veterinary nursing.

  With an interest in health and medicine and being a life-long animal lover, she has combined the two and says her only regret is not doing sooner! She lives at the foot of the Blue Mountains and shares her home with her husband, 3 children and grandson. The animals out number the people in her family – there’s a dog, cat, bird, bearded dragon, 2 rabbits, a guinea pig, 4 chickens and a horse! When she is not working or studying, she enjoys reading, walking her dog and attending horse shows with her daughter.

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• Rebecca Herbison Veterinary Nurse

  Rebecca Herbison Veterinary Nurse

  Bec has been with Selwood since 2020 after she changed careers and begun her studies in veterinary nursing. Bec grew up in the snowy mountains where she developed her love for animals. She lives locally with her 4 cats, husband and 2 kids. When she isn’t at Selwood, you can also find Bec working at our retail shop in Lawson; The Pet Health Hub

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• Pheobe Kennedy Cattery Attendant & Junior Veterinary Nurse

  Pheobe Kennedy Cattery Attendant & Junior Veterinary Nurse

  Pheobe is one of our younger nurses who is still learning to navigate the world of vet nursing. Pheobe had the privilege of growing up with her best friend Bindi. Bindi was her first dog, a Staffordshire bull terrier who was born in 2007, bred by her pop in Queensland. Bindi lived until she was 15 years old, and Pheobe says she is the reason she loves animals. Bindi also ignited the love her family now has for the staffie breed, and in 2023 they welcomed Magwai into their family. When Pheobe is not with magwai or at work, she enjoys gaming online with her friends

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• Kate Clarke Pet Health Hub Manager & Veterinary Nurse

  Kate Clarke Pet Health Hub Manager & Veterinary Nurse

  Kate is a Penrith girl born & bred, where she worked in a busy clinic for over 18 years and after taking some much-needed rest and recovery in 2020, she took on the role of running our pet shop; The ‘Pet Health Hub’, located in Lawson. She loves her role of giving nutritional advice and running our Puppy Preschool! She now has lots more time to enjoy time with her dog Rosie (Staffie) when she gets home in the afternoons.

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