Meet Our Team

Rod Gilbert

Veterinarian

Owner

Graduated in 1982 from Queensland University

Rod lived and ran a Veterinary Practice in Port Moresby, New Guinea for 6 years before moving to Cairns in 1990 and starting the  Marlin Coast Vet Clinic.

There have been a lot of changes at Marlin Coast Vet Hospital since those days of the "single vet" surgery and he is very proud of the purpose built hospital finally built in 2012. Rod is also a AQUIS accredited veterinarian for all your animal export needs.

Rods speciality is orthopaedics & joint problems and does most of the orthopaedic work in the clinic. 

Jennie Gilbert

Practice Owner

 Owner

Jennie Is an experienced zoologist and veterinary nurse with four tertiary qualifications: a certificate in Veterinary Nursing form Sydney TAFE, a certificate from the Pathology Technicians course at Sydney technical college, Bachelor of Science (Zoology/Marine Biology from James Cook University and a Graduate Diploma of Research Methods. Jennie is currently completing her masters and upgrading to a PhD.

12 Years ago Jennie and another marine biologist Paul Barnes, started Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation where sick and injured turtles can be cared for until they can be released back into the wild. The Rehabilitation centre is run solely with the help of dedicated volunteers and donations from the public.

Peter Barratt

Veterinarian

Graduated in 1983 from Murdoch University

Peter has worked with large and small animals from Bowen to Townsville before joining the team in 2007.  He has a special interest in all things to do with Native, birds and exotic species.

Champika Nissanka

Veterinarian

Champika (a.k.a Champ) graduated with a BVSc from the University of Melbourne in 2010.  He also has a degree in Veterinary Science from Sri Lanka.  He has worked in practices in the East Melbourne suburbs and East Gippsland in Victoria.  He then moved permanently to Cairns in 2013 and worked at a vet practice in Brinsmead.  Champ joined the Marlin Coast Veterinary Hospital in 2015 where he enjoys all aspects of the veterinary profession including being part of a very dedicated team of professionals.  His main interests are internal medicine, dentistry and surgery.

In his spare time, Champ enjoys gardening, travelling & a game of chess.  After their beloved King Charles Cavalier Spaniel named Monty passed away last year, he and his wife Nishari are hoping to become parents again soon.

Ashleigh Miles

Veterinarian

Steven Porep

Veterinarian

Jessica Bowers

Veterinarian

Jess graduated from Murdoch University in 2017 and moved to Cairns this year to join the team at Marlin Coast Veterinary Clinic. Jess has lived in Western Australia her whole life so its been a big move!

During vet school she worked in multiple clinics to gain plenty of experience in veterinary medicine including mixed animal practice, small animal practice, and emergency practice. Jess also volunteered her time at wildlife rescue centers helping to rehabilitate sick and injured wildlife.

Jess loves working with all creatures great and small including wildlife, birds, pocket pets and farm animals. In  her spare time Jess enjoys exploring all the natural beauty that tropical north Queensland has to offer.

Peter Lindhe

Veterinarian

Peter Lindhe joined us in 2016 after 30 years of practice in his own Veterinary Hospital in Sydney.  He has now returned to the Cairns of his childhood.

Peter is particulary interested in Canine and Feline medicine and also behaviour medicine.

Peter has 2 minature Australian Bulldogs called Billie & Zorro

Bernie Mason

Veterinarian

Bernie's veterinary life started working with dogs and cats in his long departed home town of Melbourne, before moving to Fiji for a couple of years to start a private veterinary practice.

After returning home he settled in country South Australia for many years raising a family and working long days as a partner in a large and busy mixed veterinary practice. Over the last decade he has migrated north to enjoy the Cairns lifestyle and reduced hours of work and downsized his animal menagerie to one small brown dog from YAPS.

Bronwyn Cooper

Veterinary Practice Manager

Bronwyn graduated in 2000 as a qualified veterinary nurse. Bronwyn took a year sabbatical and moved to Brisbane to work for a Veterinary Wholesale drug company in Brisbane where she gained invaluable knowledge of veterinary medicines & products prior to returning in 2002. Nowadays her work is taken up with organising the day-to-day running of our very busy practice, and she holds the position of Practice Manager at Marlin Coast Veterinary Hospital.

Bronwyn shares her house with a Griffon called Widget and a lazy cat called Tinker Tutuolla 

Tegan Ford

Front Office Manager

Tegan Is one of the lovely smiling girls who greet you at reception.  She is a very hardworking member of our team, and can usually be found helping clients on reception. She has completed her Certificate 3 & 4 in Companion Animal Studies, and is also a Level 11 Parelli Natural horsemanship. Tegan assists in horse calls, admissions and discharges and stock ordering, along with her busy reception duties.

Tegan came to us after spending 17 years working in the retail pet industry and has extensive knowledge with tropical & marine fish, birds, dogs, cats and reptiles. 

Tegan is kept very busy by 2 lovely horses, 1 cat and 2 beagles, one of which is a retired customs dog.

Ronelle Duce

Nurse Manager

Ronelle Is a qualified Veterinary Nurse with 12 years experience and a qualified Veterinary Technician. Ronelle loves all animals, has an irrepressible sense of humour, and is an invaluable team member

Ronelle is our nursing manager and helps with the running of the surgery and staff.

Ronelle has a Maltese called Kushka  and a bob tailed cat called Dennis.

Shannon Diblasio

Veterinary Nurse

Shannonis a qualified Veterinay nurse and joined us in 2013. She has a high level of experience and knowledge with exotics, birds and reptiles having previously worked in the zoo industry. Shannon is a member of FNQ Wildlife Rescue and has raised mainly macropods in the past.

Shannon has a strong passion for all the native wildlife Cairns has to offer and enjoys spending time exploring the great ourdoors.

Shannon is owned by her cheeky Galah Inca, an Amazon parrot called Echo & her cat Willow

Cassie Twidale

Veterinary Nurse

Cassy first came into the practice as a volunteer, officially joining the team in August 2016 and is currently studying her certificate 4. Cassy has had experience in hospitality and worked in child care for eight years before following her passion to work with animals. 

Genevieve Brown

Receptionist

Genevieve joined our team in May 2017 after making the move back to Cairns from Melbourne. She came to us from a small veterinary practice in Melbourne where she worked as the clinic receptionist. Prior to that she was working as a Client Services Representative for a busy speciality veterinary clinic. Genevieve began her career in the animal industry in 2010, first as a sales assistant and then as a dog groomer for a boutique salon in Melbourne. It was during this time that she completed her certificate III in Companion Animal Studies. At home, Genevieve has a Toy Poodle called Berkeley, a Shih Tzu called Bruno and a DSH cat called Alma.

Suzie Pasztor

Receptionist

Suzie`s started working with us in December 2017 when she moved to Cairns from Canberra. Suzie worked within the research team in the hospital as one of their animal technician's. She has always loved and had pets growing up in her home country of Hungary.

Suzie shares her home with a dorky 4 year old collie mix, Summer. Suzie will greet you at reception with a smile and will most likely have a treat for all four legged clients. 

Mel Boyle

Veterinary Nurse

Melanie is a Cert IV qualified Vet Nurse and joined our team at Marlin Coast Vet Hospital in November 2016. Since graduating in 2006 she has completed many post graduate courses in Emergency and Critical Care, Anaesthesia, Fluid Therapy and Toxicology to keep her knowledge and skills up to date. Mel's passion in Vet Nursing is to provide a high standard of professional and empathetic care for her patients and has particular interest in emergency and surgical nursing.

Mel is a born and bred Far North Queensland girl and outside of work enjoys camping and fishing with her family and horseriding. She has 3 dogs, Marli, Indi and Rippa and 2 cats Max and Seaka.

Kelly Irvine

Veterinary Nurse

Kellie is a qualified Veterinary Nurse, and has been nursing for 10 years. Kelly started nurisng in 2007 after completing her Certificate 2 in Animal Studies at Victoria University.

Kelly worked at a bird specialist clinic for 4 years where she completed her certificate 4 in veterinary nursing at Box Hill Institute of TAFE in Melbourne.  She then expandied her knowledge and nursing by entering the Emergency and Critical Care Clinics where she completed her Diploma of Veterinary Nursing Emergency and Critical Care in 2016 also at Box Hill Institute of TAFE in Melbourne.

Kelly relocated to Cairns from Melbourne in 2017 when she began working at Marlin Coast. 

Kelly lives with her 2 crazy Labradors, 4 rescued cats, 1 cockatiel and a crazy toy poodle X. In her spare time she loves to read and follow most sports especially Richmond Tigers in the AFL.

Molly Coe

Trainee Nurse

Joined us as a school based apprentice in 2012. 

Molly is now a fully fledged member of the team and is studying her Veterinary Nursing course IV

Penny Dobinson

Trainee Nurse

Penny joined our team in January 2017 and is almost at the end of her Veterinary Nursing course.  She has experience in disability care, administration and kennel work but has finally found her passion in Veterinary Nursing.  She has a special fondness for guinea pigs and has adopted one sassy rescue named Jellybean into her family

Alyssa Mosley

Trainee Nurse

Alyssa joined the team, after moving from Melbourne in 2016.  She is currently  studing her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing  after already completing her certificate III in  Animal Studies.

Alyssa has a very spoilt cavoodle called Dally.

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