Our Team

SPECIALISTS

Dr. Paddy Todhunter is the Owner/Director of Newcastle Equine Centre and senior specialist equine surgeon. Paddy graduated from Sydney University in 1986 and then worked in mixed practice before commencing an equine internship at the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) in 1991. He then undertook a Large Animal Surgical Residency and Masters Degree at Auburn University (Alabama, USA) from 1992-1995. This was followed by 12 months as a staff surgeon at Cornell University (New York State) USA. Paddy attained his specialist status via the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1997. Paddy joined our team in November 2004 after 6 years as an equine surgeon at the Scone Veterinary Hospital. Paddy brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Newcastle Equine Centre.

Originally from Prince Edward Island, Canada, Lisanne always had a passion for horses which led her to pursue veterinary medicine. After completing vet school in her home province, she completed an equine internship at the Idaho Equine Hospital in the USA. During her internship Lisanne developed a strong passion for neonatal medicine which led her to pursue and complete a 3-year residency in large animal internal medicine at Michigan State University in USA. As NEC’s medicine specialist, Lisanne offers expertise in all areas of internal medicine, but has a special interest in neonatal medicine, neurology, cardiology, and critical care. During her free time you can usually find Lisanne at the beach or hiking with her very silly Golden Retrievers, Goose and Maple.

Dr. Lucas Nolazco has spent the past three years as a professor of equine surgery at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. Lucas is passionate about teaching and is committed to the advancement of equine veterinary knowledge through active participation in continuing education (both as attendee and as faculty) and through mentoring of veterinary students and junior veterinarians.

Dr. Nolazco graduated as a veterinarian with honors from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. After his initial training in Argentina, Dr. Nolazco moved to the United States and undertook an equine surgery internship at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Kentucky. Then, he completed a 2nd internship at Washington State University, where he subsequently stayed for 3 additional years to complete a residency in Equine Surgery and a Masters of Science in Veterinary Science. Dr Nolazco became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) following completion of his residency and passing ACVS board examination. Dr. Nolazco has published articles on various topics including minimally invasive surgery and exercise physiology in horses.

Dr Nolazco has had the privilege of getting to work on horses of different disciplines. While in Kentucky, his work focused on Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds (breeding, sales and racing) and while in Washington State he mainly worked on trail riding horses and English/Western performance horses.

Dr Nolazco enjoys all aspects of equine surgery and sports medicine and what he values most is being part of a multi-disciplinary team of equine veterinarians as the one offered at NEC.

Outside of work Dr. Nolazco loves spending time with his family and enjoys the hitting the beach as well as any other outdoor activities.

Agustin is originally from Argentina where he did his DVM and initial training in Equine Reproduction in Criollo and Polo Pony horses. He then moved to Qatar to expand an equine commercial embryo transfer private project in Arabian Show Horses. He then pursued his post-graduate studies at Washington State University (USA) where he completed a Master of Science and a comparative Theriogenology Residency Training Program under the mentoring of Dr. Ahmed Tibary. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Theriogenology. His clinical interest includes assisted reproduction and stallion infertility/subfertility.

Stephanie has come from a varied background of research and intensive training in equine medicine including a Bachelor of Arts and Veterinary Medical Degree from the University of Pennsylvania, an internship at a high-volume equine hospital in Washington State and an equine internal medicine residency at Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center at Virginia Tech. She successfully competed the second of two ACVIM boards examinations in 2022 and joined NEC for a beach holiday with her new husband and Australian Labradoodle.  Stephanie is not only dedicated to providing the best care for her equine patients, she is also trained in business management, medical research and multilingual as a native Spanish speaker with proficiency in both Portuguese and Italian. When not finishing the final stages of publishing her research or at work, Stephanie enjoys rock climbing, scuba diving, hiking and beach days with her family.

VETERINARIANS

Morgan is from Maryland, USA. She graduated with honours from the University of Queensland in 2008 and completed an equine internship at Ballarat Veterinary Practice. Since then she worked in Western Australia before joining the team at Newcastle Equine Centre in 2012. In, 2013 Morgan passed her membership examinations in Equine Medicine. Her main areas of interest are equine medicine and anaesthesia. When not at work, Morgan enjoys playing soccer and spending time with her husband and son.

Lorin is from the Northern Territory and she studied at James Cook University in Townsville, QLD. She slowly crept further south to come to work in Newcastle and has been at NEC since 2018. She predominantly does ambulatory work which she really enjoys and is also interested in surgery and ophthalmology.

Hauke graduated from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover, Germany, as a veterinary surgeon in 2016. He completed a rotating internship followed by an assistant veterinarian position in surgery and internal medicine at the equine clinic of the University of Hannover. Throughout the years, Hauke developed a strong interest in emergency medicine and dental disorders and holds a degree in equine dentistry. He has now joined NEC for the busy season of the year covering mainly ambulatory services. When he is not working, Hauke enjoys the beach, kitesurfing and exploring bushwalks.

Rachel qualified as a veterinary surgeon at the University of Glasgow and worked in mixed practice in the UK. She then traveled to Egypt to spend 6 months volunteering for a charity, providing free veterinary care to working horses and donkeys. Rachel moved to Australia in 2010 to take up a year’s internship position in equine medicine and surgery in Ballarat, following that she worked in equine practice in South Australia before moving to the Hunter Valley. Rachel spent 6 years working in equine reproduction practice in the Hunter Valley followed by another stud season in Victoria. For the last 2 years Rachel has worked as a veterinarian in technical services for Minitube, an international reproductive technologies company. Here she advised on reproduction in all domestic animal species. She missed the busy stud seasons and has now returned to practice at NEC! Rachel’s clinical interests include reproduction, dentistry, and anaesthesia.

Originally from the UK, Evie graduated from the University of Bristol in July 2020 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science and a Master’s degree. In search of better weather, she moved to Australia for her internship at Newcastle Equine Centre in August 2020. Evie enjoys all aspects of veterinary practice but has particular interests in internal medicine and anaesthesia. In her free time she enjoys riding, swimming and camping.

Growing up in the Irish countryside, Amy developed a love of horses from a very young age, and always wanted to be an equine vet. She rode and competed in all pony club discipilines, before concentrating on eventing prior to moving to Scotland to study Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. She graduated in 2017, and moved to Yorkshire to complete an equine internship at Rainbow Equine Hospital. Here she gained experience in a wide range of areas, but developed a particular interest in medicine and emergency care. She then moved back to Scotland to work in first opinion equine practice, and improving her skills in lameness investigations, as well as ambulatory work. After a few years, she decided to relocate to Australia in search of better weather! In her spare time, Amy enjoys runnning marathons and ultramarathons, and relaxing with friends.

Sally is from Co.Meath Ireland, she grew up on a family run thoroughbred stud farm. This early introduction to horses led to Sallys keen interest in Horse Racing and equine breeding.

She completed her Veterinary Medicine Degree in University College Dublin graduating in June 2019.

Sally went on to work in mixed practice in Northern Ireland where she gained valuable experience working two busy seasons. The beginning of the year 2022 took her to Yorkshire, England where she worked a season for an equine reproductive referral and ambulatory practice.

Sally moved to Australia in August 2022. Her main clinical interests include reproduction, lameness and dentistry.

Sallys favourite part of being an Equine Veterinarian is the variety in the day, meeting clients and their horses.

In her spare time, Sally loves to go to the beach, hiking or go to the gym.

Alex graduated as a Veterinary Surgeon from the University of Liverpool in 2021, and also holds a first-class degree in Bioveterinary Science. Alex spent the beginnings of her veterinary career as a mixed vet in the UK, treating both small animal and equine patients.
Originally from Derbyshire (UK), Alex has grown up surrounded by all things horses. She has worked on competition yards, racing yards and stud farms, as well as competing in several ridden disciplines herself.
Alex loves being out and about as an ambulatory vet, with her main interests lying in lameness and poor performance.
Outside of work Alex can often be found in the ocean!

aulina graduated in 2015 from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland. Shortly after graduation she decided to move to Sweden to work in the largest equine reproduction centre in the country. This is where her passion in reproduction started. Paulina has worked in several countries in Europe, including France, UK and Poland. In 2017, she came to Australia to work as a seasonal vet at Revelwood Stud in NSW. She fell in love with Australia and moved here permanently in 2018. After completing of 12-month rotating internship at The University of Adelaide, Paulina spent the two seasons working for one of the well known thoroughbred stud in Hunter Valley. She has been with us at NEC since 2022.
Paulina has particular interests in stud medicine (mostly reproduction and neonatology).
When not at work, Paulina enjoys bush walking, yoga, pottery and visiting art galeries.

Edwina graduated in 2015 from the University of Nottingham in the UK. After working in Mexico for World Horse Welfare, Edwina completed a 12 month internship in Equine Medicine and Intensive Care at Scone Equine Group. Since then she has worked in equine and mixed private practice, as well as currently carrying out a PhD on mare fertility, under Laureate Professor John Aitken. She joined NEC in 2018 and balances clinical work at NEC with research for her doctorate.  Edwina has wide range of veterinary interests – but mares, reproduction and ambulatory emergency work are her main focuses at the moment. In her spare time Edwina loves the outdoors and spending time with her young family.

VETERINARY INTERNS

Anto graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She worked at the University Hospital in the Small Animal Surgery area for two years, and after her initial training in Argentina, Anto arrived to Australia to travel around and work in different thoroughbred studs for two seasons.
 
Anto’s favourite area at the clinic is Neonatology, and she is looking forward the next season. She is also interested in Internal Medicine and is always very happy to learn new things.
Coming Soon…

PATHOLOGY

VETERINARY NURSES / ASSISTANTS

Jacinda has many years of experience training and producing show horses from off the track thoroughbreds through to purpose bred show horses and ponies.
As a competitive rider, she has a keen interest in lameness diagnosis and injury rehabilitation for performance horses.

Michelle loves being an ambulatory nurse. Travelling around meeting and helping new patients and their owners on a day to day basis, things are never boring!

ADMINISTRATION

Sarah was born and bred into the Equine Industry. She relocated to Australia from Ireland after completing a Certificate in Equine Science and The Irish Nation Stud Course in Thoroughbred Breeding. Whilst her time in Australia, Sarah has been based in Scone, Hunter Valley NSW where she worked on a Stud Farm managing the foaling unit and pregnant mares before Managing an Equine Veterinary Clinic in Scone. Recently relocated to Newcastle, Sarah enjoys being on the water and exploring new nature walks.

Sarah was born and bred into the Equine Industry. She relocated to Australia from Ireland after completing a Certificate in Equine Science and The Irish Nation Stud Course in Thoroughbred Breeding. Whilst her time in Australia, Sarah has been based in Scone, Hunter Valley NSW where she worked on a Stud Farm managing the foaling unit and pregnant mares before Managing an Equine Veterinary Clinic in Scone. Recently relocated to Newcastle, Sarah enjoys being on the water and exploring new nature walks.

Alafair has completed a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Marketing and Leadership & Management. She has grown up in the veterinary industry with both of her parents being vets. She loves animals and nature, photography and being creative through graphic design and marketing.

ANIMAL CARE AND MAINTENANCE