Medicine Staff
- Dr Vanessa Barrs
- A/Prof Julia Beatty
- Dr Ken Cockwill
- Dr Theresa McCann
- Dr Aitor Arteaga
- Dr Katherine Briscoe
Dr Vanessa Barrs
BVSc(hons) MVetClinStud FACVSc(Specialist in Feline Medicine)
Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine
Head of Small Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine Specialist
Career History
Vanessa is a registered specialist in Feline Medicine and co-directs the world-class feline referral service at the Valentine Charlton Cat Centre. This is currently the only centre in the world to provide an accredited training program for specialists in Feline Medicine, supervised by Vanessa Barrs and Julia Beatty, our two resident feline specialists.
After graduation in 1990, Vanessa worked at The University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Sydney (UVTHS) from 1993 to 1999 completing a residency in small animal medicine, a Master’s degree in bacteriology and working as a senior small animal medical registrar. Vanessa achieved Fellowship of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in Feline Medicine in 2000 and worked in University /private referral practice in London for 2 years. After returning to Australia Vanessa worked in private referral practice for 2 years and was then appointed Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine in April 2004. Vanessa is a prominent member of the veterinary professional community. She serves on the NSW Board of Veterinary Practitioners as a specialist representative and is a trustee for the Feline Research Health Fund. Vanessa enjoys all aspects of teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students and has been awarded a number of teaching improvement grants.
Special Interests
Vanessa loves to make sick cats better! She is interested in all aspects of feline medicine, especially infectious and genetic diseases, cardiology and endocrinology. Vanessa enjoys currently directs a number of research projects including erythrocyte pyruvate kinase deficiency of Abyssinian and Somali cats, sino-orbital Aspergillosis, alimentary lymphoma in cats and a prevalence study of Tritrichomonas fetus.
Faculty Web Profile
A/Prof Julia Beatty
BSc(hons) BVetMed PhD FACVSc (feline medicine) MRCVS
Feline Medicine Specialist
Associate Professor in Small Animal Medicine
Career History
Jules is a Feline Medicine Specialist and is very proud of the high quality referral service that the team are able to offer at the Valentine Charlton Cat Centre. She graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London in 1989 and worked in small animal practice before completing a PhD on feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) with Professor Os Jarrett at the University of Glasgow. She stayed on to carry out post-doctoral studies on the potential role of FIV in cancer development. She trained to be a Feline Medicine Specialist in Sydney and London and has worked in private referral and University practice in her chosen field.
Special Interests
She is interested in all aspects of feline medicine. Her primary clinical research focus is in infectious diseases.
Faculty Web Profile
Dr Ken Cockwill
BSc (Great Distinction) DVM (Distinction) DACVIM (Small Animal)
Senior Clinical Veterinary Registrar in Small Animal Medicine
Ken joined the staff of the University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Sydney as a Senior Registrar in Small Animal Medicine from Saskatoon, Canada. Ken is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and is interested in all aspects of small animal medicine.
Dr Theresa McCann
BVSc DSAM Dip-ECVIM-CA MRCVS
Senior Clinical Veterinary Registrar in Small Animal Medicine
Theresa graduated from Massey University (New Zealand) in 1998 and after 18 months in mixed practice in New Zealand moved to the United Kingdom. After completing a Small Animal Internship at the Animal Health Trust Theresa moved to the University of Edinburgh where she completed a residency in Small Animal Medicine. In 2007 Theresa became a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and obtained a Diploma in Small Animal Medicine from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Theresa is interested in all aspects of Medicine but has particular interests in inflammatory bowel disease, haematology and long term management of patients with chronic renal disease.
Dr Aitor Arteaga
DVM CertSAM MRCVS
Senior Clinical Veterinary Registrar in Small Animal Medicine
Dr Aitor Arteaga has joined the University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Sydney as Senior Registrar in Small Animal Medicine. A 1997 veterinary graduate from Zaragoza University in Spain, Aitor gained a Certificate in Small Animal Medicine from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), London, in 2004. Following graduation, he spent time in private practice in Spain and the United Kingdom, including a specialist referral practice where he completed an internship under the supervision of RCVS and European-recognised veterinary specialists.
Between 2002 and 2006, Aitor undertook the role of Hill’s Senior Clinical Training Scholar (Resident) in Small Animal Medicine at the University of Glasgow Veterinary School in Scotland.
Dr Katherine Briscoe
BVSc (Hons) MACVSc (Feline Medicine)
Feline Medicine Resident
Katherine graduated from the University of Sydney in 2003. After graduation she worked in a busy small animal practice in Sydney for 18 months before moving to the UK where she worked as a locum in a number of small animal practices. In 2006, Katherine returned to the University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Sydney to undertake a postgraduate internship in small animal medicine, surgery and anaesthesia.
Katherine has always had a keen interest in all things feline and as part of this natural progression has recently commenced her residency training program in feline medicine. Katherine is a member of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists and is also currently enrolled in the Graduate Diploma of Veterinary Studies. As part of this degree she is an active participant in the research project into low grade intestinal lymphoma in cats.