Meet Our Vets

Dr Moraya Garrett- Head Veterinarian

Dr Moraya Garrett graduated from Charles Sturt University in 2016 with first class honours. Originally from Melbourne, she initially worked in Newcastle in small animal emergency and critical care. Moraya made the move home and to the AAPS in 2019 and became our head veterinarian in 2020.  Moraya brings a broad range of experience developed from her time in emergency and critical care, with a keen interest in ultrasonography and internal medicine.  In her spare time, she enjoys baking (especially the eating part) and running, and spending time with family, including her 3-legged dog (Link, adopted from the AAPS), 2-year-old daughter and husband.  

Dr. Suruchi Perera

Dr Suruchi graduated from Melbourne University in 2015 with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. She spent the first three years in general practice and emergency and moved to shelter work in 2018, developing a passion for improving standards of medicine and surgery for shelter patients.  Her special areas of interest include small animal dentistry and oral surgery, feline medicine and surgery. Dr Suruchi is a member of MANZCVS: Small Animal Dentistry Oral Surgery. Dr Suruchi enjoys improving the quality of lives of her patients, helping them enjoy living a comfortable and pain free life. In her spare time, Dr Suruchi studies dentistry and other further veterinary education, gardening, yoga and catching up with friends and family.  Her motto – Saving the world, one mouth at a time! 

Dr. Jasmine Meehan

Jasmine graduated with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Melbourne in 2015. She worked in small animal practice in Melbourne, before spending two years travelling in Europe and working as a locum vet in the UK. After returning home, she joined the team at AAPS. She enjoys the wide variety of cases seen in the shelter environment and finds welfare work hugely rewarding. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, reading and travelling. 

Dr. Juliana Xue

Dr Juliana graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2018 with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degree. Juliana started working as a shelter and emergency veterinarian since she has graduated. Juliana has always had a strong passion towards shelter medicine, animal behaviour and animal welfare. She started her Master’s in Shelter Medicine with the University of Florida in 2020, and she would be finishing from her degree in August 2022. Juliana has the goals of improving animal welfare during their stays in shelter and shortening the length-of-stay for shelter animals. Infectious disease control, behaviour problems and promoting animal-human bond are also some of her main focuses in shelter medicine. Juliana is hoping to pursue her specialty in shelter medicine by 2024. Juliana enjoys playing ice hockey and spend time with her family and friends in her spare time. 

Lisa Peck

Lisa is a vet nurse who joined the AAPS in December 2020. She left the tourism industry to follow her love for animals and has enjoyed being a nurse for the last 3 years. She graduated her Cert IV in Veterinary Nursing in 2019. Her passion is animal rescue and rehabilitation. In the past, Lisa volunteered multiple times overseas including working with injured wild life such as sloths and monkeys in Costa Rica and joining a spey/neuter clinic in Myanmar. She wishes to join more overseas projects in the future helping with the street animal issues in developing countries. She also hopes to study canine remedial massage in the near future. Outside of work, Lisa shares her home with her partner and their giraffe sized greyhound named Peter, whose crazy antics create much enjoyment to the team. She loves travelling, hiking and experimenting with different vegan recipes.

Dej Anderwald

Australian Animal Protection Society Veterinary Nurse with experience in the animal industry since 2014. Lover of all, with a keen interest in felines and reptiles.

Christine Molyneaux

I have always had a strong passion for animals welfare in my life, and have dedicated over 17 years in the animal industry and still love it! In the the last few years I became a vet nurse and find my job the most rewarding role, to care for the sick and animals in need. It’s also a plus when you get cuddles from all the animals. In my spare time I’m looking after my family and fur children, and enjoy foster caring for cats and kittens.

Tahnaeya Dearsley

Hi my name is Tahnaeya, I have grown up with MANY Pets including Ferrets, Rats, Guinea pigs, Rabbits, Birds, Horses, Cats and Dogs all of which were rescues. Due to my love of animals I started out volunteering at animal shelters and soon expanded to wildlife rescues all the while working at a boarding kennel and cattery. I worked there for approximately 2 years, I then went on to work as a dog Groomer for 7 years and instructing puppy school also during this time having my adorable kids. I couldn’t be more excited to now be a part of the amazing AAPS team.

Eve Hemsley

I have been involved in animal welfare since leaving school, volunteering, fostering and working in the industry for 10 years now. I have a huge passion for welfare of all animals but have a great love for the most vulnerable animals needing our care at AAPS, neonatal kittens and senior dogs are where I find my greatest fulfillment. You will often find me at reception with a newborn kitten on the desk or little doggo at foot needing company. In 2011 I completed my cert 2 in Animal Studies & in 2014 I did my cert 4 in cert in vet nursing (reception skill set) which led me to a wonderful nursing career, after having my son and being home with him during most of the pandemic I decided to look into something different in the animal welfare world and luckily came into this role at AAPS that I love! I enjoy my time outside of AAPS with my little family that includes TWO little chihuahuas & two cats.

Robyn Zienow

My compassion for animals led to a career change in the animal industry. I worked in the AAPS shelter while doing an online animal study course, which gave me opportunity to work with the wonderful AAPS Vet team on reception.

Pictured with me is our beautiful rescue greyhound Sabre. I believe giving an animal a second chance can be life changing and rewarding for both animal and owner.