Amanda Paul

Amanda completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Sydney and then veterinary studies at the University of Queensland in 1999. She initially worked in mixed practice with a large greyhound and breeding clientel and quarantine service. After completing a certification in veterinary acupuncture, she transferred to small animal practice in Sydney Australia and completed her export certification and a Masters of small animal veterinary studies through Murdoch University.

An interest in specialist practice led her to work in emergency at the one Sydneys’ specialist practices where she also became a member of the Australian-New Zealand College of Veterinary Science. She then completed a residency in small animal medicine at Murdoch University in Western Australia where she became a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Internal medicine and completed a Masters in respiratory medicine in dogs. In 2016 she moved to the UK and joined the medicine team at Anderson Moores.

Amanda enjoys all aspects of medicine, in both management of acute, chronic and interventional medicine, particularly with a respiratory focus. She continues to contribute to the profession through provision of CPD training and scientific literature.

Amanda’s full career profile:

The early days
Australian born and bred, Amanda, our head of internal medicine and an RCVS and European Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine had pets growing up and helped rehabilitate Australian wildlife as well as working on friends’ farms so being a vet seemed a natural progression.

During vet school Amanda enjoyed her time with wildlife and zoo medicine and then moved to farm and equine practice. She was the student co-ordinator of the wildlife ward, providing care and rehabilitation of injured native birds and animals with the goal of re-release. From the outset of her veterinary studies, she was a volunteer firefighter and provided training and awareness of the care of burnt and injured wildlife. Through NSW Rural Fire Service she obtained a certificate in workplace training and assessment that has supported her life and career since. During her studies she was inspired to meet Nobel prize winner and veterinarian Peter Doherty, later Australian of the Year, not only in vet practice but also on how to give back to the community.

She graduated into a small mixed practice and ended up with a large greyhound and breeding practice clientele thinking at this stage that surgery might be her path. This led her to assist sporting dogs in alternative treatments and in 2002, she completed her International Veterinary Acupuncture Association (IVAS) Certification, using these skills to assist both sporting animals and companion pets. Realising she could also help quarantined animals arriving in Australia, she completed the Australian Animal Health – Veterinarian Certificate of Accreditation in 2005 and AQIS Certificate of Accreditation of Private Veterinarians for Preparation and Inspection of Companion Animals for Export. She said, “Given the challenges of preventing exotic disease with importation-exportation from a protected island nation, I felt proud to be able to contribute to biosecurity.”

Amanda also worked in emergency care and loved the challenge of the cases – but also wanted to give more follow up care and investigation, so medicine kept coming back to her mind as she enjoyed the puzzle that small animal medicine presented in peeling back the layers of the case to find answers and then conquering the disease and finding the right management for each individual patient. She said, “There is no cookbook recipe for medicine referral patients!”

Time to specialise
Amanda always knew she wanted to specialise and had now recognised her passion for small animal medicine, so she moved to a small animal practice where she was able to work with specialists in surgery, imaging and dermatology. In 2006 she undertook a Masters in Veterinary Clinical Studies expanding her knowledge and skills in medicine, surgery, imaging, dermatology, clinical pathology and anaesthesia of small animals. Then a year later passed her examinations to become a member of the Australian College of Veterinary Science (now ANZCVS) in small animal medicine, and nominated by practice clients was awarded the Rotary Club of Wahroongah ‘Pride of Workmanship’.

With this foundation, in 2008 Amanda undertook a three-year ECVIM residency in small animal medicine at Murdoch University, where she supervised and trained in a large teaching hospital with a heavy caseload. In 2014 she became an ECVIM-CA diplomat European Specialist in Veterinary Internal Medicine, and completed a Masters in Veterinary Internal Medicine by investigating whether markers in bronchoalveolar fluid could be used to better and more quickly identify causes of respiratory disease in dogs. One of Amanda’s great challenges was contributing to RATS (remote area training) for vets in isolated communities in Western Australia, which laid the foundation for the provision of ongoing continuing education in COVID times.

After completion of her residency Amanda moved to a private speciality practice working in small animal medicine while also continuing with the emergency veterinary care at Murdoch University where she returned a year later. She was elected as the general staff representative to the university veterinary college council and also to be a committee member of the veterinary school site re-development. One of her achievements was to work on the infectious disease control committee alongside expert microbiologists and specialist clinicians, to constantly review and improve work practices and patient care. She became the programme director for the ECVIM programme to further continue training future medicine specialists.

Amanda joined Anderson Moores in 2016 where she became Deputy, then Head of the Internal Medicine service and also became an RCVS recognised Specialist. She currently coordinates eight residents training in ACVIM and ECVIM programmes and three medicine specific interns, in addition to training rotating interns through the medicine service.

Advancement of education
Amanda gives back to the profession in many ways and maintains her commitment to the veterinary world and its advancement through both scientific research contributions and collaborative studies, continuing professional development presentations, Resident and Intern training and through assisting veterinary bodies. She has had a number of visual and written general media presentations in Australia, assisted early-career vets in preparing presentations for publication in journals such as The Companion and assisted with marking of the BVA medicine advance practitioner certificate written case assessments.

Amanda remains committed to infectious disease control and currently co-chairs the infectious control committee at AMVS and maintains a role on the senior leadership team. She said “I am proud to continue to evolve the medicine service to reach continued higher client and referring veterinarian expectations.”

Amanda continued “I enjoy working within a wider medicine team as it is so exciting and fulfilling to see medicine residents passing their exams or interns finding residencies or their dream job, knowing you had a hand in someone else joining the speciality that you love.”

She also values her role from a teamworking sense, not only with her colleagues but working with owners to make sure their family member has the best possible outcome. She said “Nothing is better than a dog or cat being happy to come to the vets and being happy to see you. That is the experience you want for the owner, the pet and yourself.”

Outside of work
Amanda doesn’t stop with her commitment to service out of work. She was a volunteer firefighter in Australia for over 20 years in three different states and when she moved to the UK she looked to continue some kind of contribution to the community. She came across HANTSAR (Hampshire Search & Rescue) and loved that they were a charity with an amazing group of people from all walks of life. With everyone committed to making society better and helping us all to feel safe and valued in our community.

The scope of the role involves being called in by police to find high risk missing people such as those with dementia, mental disabilities and suicidal members of the community as well as children. They work with dog teams from HSARdogs, drone teams, water teams and commonly assist other districts and agency teams. There is a significant commitment to maintaining training and members are on-call 24/7 every day of the year.

During COVID Amanda again did what she could to support her local community by testing lorry drivers who were supplying food and other supplies to the UK, providing COVID vaccines and marshalling at community organised marathons while still having the primary function of searching for missing people. Her most satisfying search was locating a despondent and seeing her return to her partner alive and well.

There is no end to her talents as Amanda is also a classical pianist and a qualified pilot!
Watch this space to continue to follow her amazing and inspiring career inside and outside of our veterinary hospital