Lesa graduated from Sydney University in 1992 and spent her first three years in a mixed practice in Inverell before leaving to travel overseas with a backpack. Nine years later, having worked in mixed practice in Edinburgh and then a busy small animal practice in London, she returned to Australia with her Northern Irish husband Tim, a daughter Zara and a border terrier named Reiver. Zara was joined by Callum (2006) and Fraser (2010). The rest of the family includes four chooks, a horse called Darby and the cats Tiggerlicious and Eeyora-anora and Allie the Kelpie.
While diagnostic imaging – Xrays and ultrasound – is her particular interest, she is enthusiastic about all veterinary subjects. Lesa has a lifelong love of learning that she shares with the rest of the team at Hall Veterinary Surgery!
Outside of the practice, Lesa enjoys many outdoor activities, swimming and painting.
From age 5 Helen wanted to be a vet after spending weekends and holidays at her friend’s farm. Many magical days were spent exploring on horseback and caring for the various animals on the farm.
Helen graduated from University of Queensland in 1980 and worked her first year in a mixed practice in the Lockyer Valley (Queensland). As the first female vet to work in the Lockyer Valley in Queensland she received a lot of disbelieving looks from farmers back in the 1980’s.
Helen moved to Canberra in 1982 and her veterinary skills have continued to grow. She is a passionate lifelong learner and encourages all staff in pursuit of further study – she certainly leads by example! Over the years, Helen has participated in distance education in medicine, surgery and ultrasound, is a qualified veterinary acupuncturist and most recently has added animal behaviour qualifications to her long list of accreditation.
Helen finds veterinary practice immensely rewarding and challenging and gains great joy from the company of animals and the people who care for them.
Helen and her husband Andrew love bushwalking, and have trekked in many places both within and outside Australia.
Jim grew up on a farm, went to school in Dubbo, then studied Veterinary Science in Sydney, graduating in 1990. He started his vet career in a mixed practice in Armidale NSW, and eventually married one of the clients. After a stint in the UK, he worked in Taree for a couple of years before moving to Canberra in 1998.
These days he mainly works with small animals but lives the farm life with his family, including two children, a range of pets and cattle on a small acreage.
The family pets include Jack the Border Collie, Emily the Cattle Dog x and a pair of cats named Kat and Kim.
Outside farm work, Jim’s interests include gardening, travel, reading, photography, golf and bushwalking.
Dr Peter makes everyone’s day a little brighter with his support, good humour and by generously sharing his vast veterinary knowledge.
After graduating from Sydney University with his Veterinary degree, Peter had a short stint as a meat inspection veterinarian before going into dairy practice in Mt Gambier. His next life-move with his wife, Trish was to Cowra into a mixed practice with more of an emphasis on equine reproduction, race track practice and companion animals.
1978 was a life changer when Peter moved into practice in Yass in a practice where there was a continual focus on self-development, continuing education and maintaining standards of treatment in line with current trends. Peter obtained membership of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in Anaesthesia and intensive care and was the anaesthetist for Canberra Veterinary Hospital equine surgery unit.
Peter moved on to develop Yass Veterinary Hospital into a 5 vet practice with 12 ancillary staff, twice winning the AVA Practice of Excellence in customer Service award.
Peter has also been active as a Rotarian, a board member of several local organisations, a member of the New South Wales division committee of the AVA, a board member of the AVA and vice president of the AVA for 3 years concluding in May 2014.
Retiring from full time practice in 2010, Peter has been undertaking locum work at several practices including Hall Veterinary Surgery.
Outside of his life-time vocation, Peter and his wife Trish, continue to enjoy travel adventures and being involved with their grandchildren.
Dr Vickie joined the HVS team in 2018 and brings with her a vast array of skills and expertise. Not only is Vickie a gifted and highly skilled veterinary surgeon, she has continued to build her knowledge. Vickie’s qualifications include 1st class honours in Bachelor of Veterinary Science 2003; plus MANZCVS qualifications, which means she has passed examinations and been admitted to Membership of the College in Surgery, Radiology and Emergency and Critical Care! That’s over 15 years of in-depth study and skill development at the highest level. On top of all these amazing skills you will also find Vickie to be a warm and caring vet who has had many years experience as a pet owner – so she knows what it is like to worry about an unwell pet. Vickie has two cocker spaniels, Ginny and Mitsuki as well as a cat and named Elspeth.
Amer completed his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1988 and then went on to complete his Master of Clinical Veterinary Medicine and Surgery in 1993. During this period, he also had the opportunity to spend some time in a mixed animal practice in Mombasa, Kenya. He then decided to further broaden his overseas experience and travelled to the USA. Upon successful completion of his American Boards in 1998, Amer practiced for some time in New Jersey. Once it was time to return home to Australia 2001, he moved to Canberra and soon became a director at the small animal practice he was working in at the time.
Amer’s special interests are small animal cardiology, radiology, ultrasonography, endoscopy and laparoscopy. In 2007 he completed certification in endoscopy and laparoscopy from Canada. Amer is passionate about preventative veterinary medicine and early disease diagnosis, this is reflected in his keen interest in diagnostic imaging.
Gillian grew up in Singapore with her family until she was 16 before moving to Perth to finish high school. After finishing school, Gillian found herself in the final year of a Commerce Degree when she realised that her passion was never going to be fulfilled within a desk job. It was her rescue dog Cassius the boxer that helped Gillian come to the realisation that her true passion was to be a Veterinarian. Now, a few years and a Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree later, Canberra is called home, and aren’t the pets of Canberra so lucky for that!
Born and raised in Sydney, Alvin graduated from the University of Sydney in 2019 with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). Looking for that perfect first job, he joined Hall Veterinary Surgery in early 2020 and has greatly enjoyed the move to Canberra. As a new veterinarian, Alvin strives to solidify his knowledge and skills in all aspects of veterinary medicine and surgery, hoping to help as many pets and people along the way. Outside of the clinic, you can find Alvin surfing the internet, playing video games, and visiting his family and two toy poodles, Kimi and Marco, back in Sydney.
AJ grew up in Newcastle and originally trained to be a plant geneticist at the University of Sydney. Being in a laboratory wasn’t for her, and she went out West on a whim to be a cowgirl, and stayed in the bush for many years. She went back to study veterinary science at Charles Sturt University, graduating in 2019. She originally intended on being a large animal veterinarian, but a chance meeting with Lesa Potten through mutual neighbours led to a job at Hall Vet Surgery and she has never been happier.
AJ loves the variety and depth of medicine that being a “smallies” vet affords. Her favourite part of the job is learning new skills from her amazing colleagues, who are all committed to ongoing education and gold standard care.
In her time off, AJ loves being on the farm with her horses and her cardigan corgi Foxy Cleopatra.
Emma graduated from the University of Queensland in 2004 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science BVSc. After graduating, Emma moved to Darwin in the Northern Territory where she has worked for the majority of her career, in both mixed and small animal practice. Emma has also worked for brief periods of time in the UK, Melbourne and for the past 4 years in Gladstone, Central Queensland. In mid 2020 Emma and her young family moved to Canberra. She has a Kelpie cross terrier called Keke, who came through her last clinic as rescue and she just couldn’t say no to her!
Emma has an interest in all areas of small animal practice but has developed a special interest in Dermatology and is looking to expand upon her knowledge and skills set in the near future. Outside of work when she isn’t chasing after her two young sons she enjoys travelling, house renovations and millinery hat making for the races and fashion.
The varied skills of our veterinary staff is both broad and complementary. From cruciate repairs, pathology diagnostics, dental repairs, spey and castration surgeries, cardio work-ups to acupuncture and behavioural advice we have vets with the skills to help you keep, or return your pet to good health.
