Our Team

Dr. Kevin Foster

BVSc (Hons) MVS

Kevin is passionate about caring for cats, dogs, small animals, reptiles and their people. He is delighted to be part of Vets on Parker: a genuine family practice. Kevin trained as a veterinary surgeon at the University of Melbourne and graduated with honours. He has recently completed a postgraduate certificate and masters degree in small animal medicine and surgery.

Kevin worked for several years in Sydney at a busy small animal clinic and emergency veterinary hospital before moving back to Melbourne in 2010. Kevin became the principal vet at Vets on Parker in early 2011.

He thoroughly enjoys looking after the family pets of Templestowe and enjoys participating in community life. Kevin has an Airedale Terrier named Macy and looks after his family’s Cavalier King Charles Spaniels on a regular basis.

Dr Kevin hosts Pets Practice with Dr Kevin and is series vet for Animal Extra. He’s appeared on The Project, Ten News and Light FM as well as in the Herald Sun and Leader Newspapers.

Dr. Sarah Thorpe

BVSc MVS

Sarah is passionate about providing outstanding patient care and supporting our clients through the fun and challenges of pet ownership. Graduating from The University of Melbourne in 2010, Sarah joined the Vets on Parker team in 2012 and completed a Masters in Veterinary Studies (Small Animal Practice) in 2017. With a keen interest in medicine Sarah enjoys managing chronic and complex medical conditions, in particular the care of geriatric patients and supporting her clients in how to best care for their elderly pets.

Sarah’s love of cats is evident as she calmly and confidently cares for her feline patients, making them feel at ease whilst at the clinic. She has played an instrumental role in the veterinary care of hundreds of rescue cats, working closely with Maneki Neko Cat Rescue. At home Sarah enjoys spending time with her young active family and her two cheeky rescue cats Gerald and Kelly. Gerald has given Sarah personal experience in managing diabetes as he has been treated successfully with dietary management and insulin since his diagnosis in 2018.

Dr. Kassy Sainsbury

BVSc

Kassy joined the Vets on Parker team in 2018 and has over 15 years’ experience as a veterinarian. Kassy’s clients enjoy her honest and down to earth approach. She has a particular interest in the mental health of her patients and in dermatology. Born and bred locally, Kassy graduated from Sydney University and has spent time working around Australia, in the UK and in Dubai.

Dr. Erica Chan

BSc DVM

Erica is originally from Eltham and remembers driving past Vets on Parker regularly when growing up. She is therefore super excited to have come full circle and joined the fantastic team at Vets on Parker.  She holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Melbourne, and looks forward to providing high quality veterinary care to all local families and their pets.

Erica loves being active and spending time outdoors – a passion shared by Ralph, her Rhodesian Ridgeback X Cattle Dog. She also loves coffee and good food, and wishes Ralph had better ‘café manners’ so that he could share this passion with her too.

Dr. Nicola Tse

After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 2020, Nicola joined the Vets on Parker team. She has always grown up with pets and has acquired a strong passion in caring for animals. Nicola finds it particularly rewarding to manage complex medical cases as she finds it so heartwarming to see her patients feel better. She is dedicated to providing high quality care for our clients and their pets. Outside of work Nicola enjoys travelling, exploring new cafes and spending time with her friends and family. She lives with an energetic Cavalier mix dog called Mochi, and a talkative domestic shorthair cat called Pumpkin.

Dr Sanchi Aggarwal

Sanchi joined our team in 2020. As a pet owner herself, she understands the joy an animal can bring to our lives. She looks forward to caring for our animal community while also providing owners with support through the highs and lows of pet ownership.

Dr Tori Ip

Tori graduated from Murdoch University in 2018 and has been working in primary care practice in Melbourne ever since. She is dedicated to providing the highest standard of care to help your beloved pets live long, happy and healthy lives.

Originally from Hong Kong, Tori is fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin, and she warmly welcomes clients to speak with her in either language.

Tori enjoys all aspects of general practice and has a special interest in surgery and rehabilitation. In 2024, she completed her Postgraduate Certificate in Small Animal Surgery (GPCert SAS) through the International School of Veterinary Postgraduate Studies (UK), and she has recently completed her training with the Canine Rehabilitation Institute and is awaiting final certification as a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist (CCRT).

Outside of work, Tori enjoys backpacking, camping, bouldering, and cycling with her partner—who is also a vet—and their adventurous ginger cat, Cheeto. On slower days, she’s just as happy lounging at home with her second ginger cat, Comet.

Dr Kate Luk

BVSc

Kate grew up in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne but completed her vet degree at The University of Sydney in 2016. She worked for several years in a busy inner western Sydney clinic before finally returning home at the end of 2020. She joined the Vets in Melbourne team in 2021 after a locuming stint at Vets in Endeavour Hills, where she realised how well she fit in with the team!

Kate enjoys all aspects of small animal general practice, including medicine and surgery. She prides herself on being thorough and gentle with all of her patients and loves all animals big and small.

Outside of work Kate enjoys going out to eat, hiking, cuddling her cat Bee and taking her second cat Billy for a walk. You can find her dividing her time between Vets on Parker and Vets in Endeavour Hills each week.

Dr Sylvia Hung

Sylvia is a small animal vet who’s all about keeping cats and dogs happy and healthy! After starting her career in general practice, she spent a year as a rotating intern in a busy emergency and specialty referral hospital—where she learned about critical care, internal medicine and diagnostic imaging but discovered her true passion lies in the everyday magic of general practice. (Nothing beats building lasting bonds with pets and their humans!)

Originally from Hong Kong, she speaks fluently in Mandarin and Cantonese, and enjoys helping multilingual pet families with their veterinary care. At home, her mischievous (but perfect) cat Thea rules the house —and reminds her daily why she loves being a vet.

Danielle Cowburn

She started her nursing career at a busy 24 hour emergency clinic where she was exposed to many interesting and exciting cases. Danielle volunteers with Wildlife Victoria as a rescue and transport officer and has done extensive volunteer work overseas with the street dogs in Nepal and Peru. Danielle is a foster carer and is currently looking after a beautiful 7 year old bull terrier.

Joanne Amos

Joanne hails from a small country town called Sea Lake where she grew up surrounded by a large range of animals. After completing her Bachelor in Animal and Veterinary Biosciences she joined the team at Vets on Parker in 2010. She enjoys the constant learning experience that working in the Veterinary industry gives her, and watching how innovated changes to medicine benefit our patients and clients alike. When not at work Joanne is kept busy as a director at Maneki Neko Cat Rescue, a non for profit cat rescue organization that came about by a conversation in our own waiting room! Often referred to as our crazy cat lady Joanne can usually be seen with a carrier of kitten bottle babies in tow.

Emily Roberts

Emily grew up local to the area in Eltham. After working with the community, she decided on a career change and to follow her life long passion that she has for animals both big and small. She is keen to see where this new adventure will take her and the opportunities it may lead to. Emily’s first rescue is her dog Mondo, an energetic boy who is a bit of everything. Since then she has surrounded herself with rescue animals, adding Aster the beaglier to the family and hand raising 2 lambs Daisy and Poppy, who are now 2 very spoilt sheep and 2 Alpacas Lenni and Carl. Emily loves spending her weekends with all her fur family on their property in Mansfield.

Liz Whyte

Vet nursing is a relatively new career for Liz. Working in the veterinary industry was always a dream, but after completing her Science Degree,
Liz devoted her time to looking after special needs kids and having children of her own.

Going back to study Cert IV in Veterinary Nursing was definitely worthwhile, as Liz knows she is now in her favourite job! She enjoys meeting all the gorgeous patients that come into the clinic and loves helping them live their best lives.

When not at work, Liz enjoys pottering around her garden, trying to find new places to add more native plants, or decide which veggies to attempt to grow. She also enjoys going for walks with her family, which includes 2 border collies, Reggie and Lilah.

Kath Apostolopoulos

Kath began her career in the animal industry at a young age by pet sitting for family and friends. She graduated with a Certificate II in Animal Studies in 2018 and continued her studies completing her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing in 2020. Kath currently has a cat called Clio but hopes to one day expand her fur family to include a variety of animals.

Natalie Logan

Natalie has always been an animal lover and is absolutely rapt to be a part of the Vets on Parker team as one of our Cattery Attendants. She is passionate about health and medical science (both human and animal) and has previously completed a Bachelor of Paramedicine. She is super keen to return to studying this year and begin working towards completing the Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing. She is particularly interested in animal behaviour, rehabilitation, and complementary therapies. Natalie currently owns two rescue dogs, Neo and Narla, and an ex-racehorse named Vinnie. She also has three fur-nieces: Socks and Riley (dogs) and Piper (cat). Outside of work, she enjoys horse riding, reading, binging Netflix and Reformer Pilates.

Lachlan Milne

Lachlan has always had a love of and interest in animals since growing up with them as members of his family. He is keen to put his knowledge from his previous study relating to animals and the environment to use at Vets on Parker.

Cassandra De La Parra

Cassandra is a lifelong animal lover with a passion for providing the best possible care for all furry animals. She graduated in 2019 with a Bachelors of Animal & Veterinary Bioscience majoring in Zoology from La Trobe University. Cass started her journey working with retired racehorses and now, after joining the Vets on Parker team in 2022, Cassandra is excited to follow her passion and expand her knowledge whilst studying a Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing. With a love for all sighthounds, Cass hopes to adopt an ex-racer greyhound in the near future!

Vicky Smith

Vicky is one of our bright and bubbly Receptionists. Holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Management and Welfare, she is a passionate animal lover and has been working in different animal health and welfare industries for over 20 years.

Vicky enjoys working closely with our furry patients; however she finds the most rewarding part of her role is helping and greeting everyone that comes into our clinic. She loves meeting and interacting with all of our lovely owners and their pets, helping to reassure them and ensuring they are happy. Vicky aspires to make everyone’s day a little better, whether you are furry or not.

Alicia Woodman

Alicia is passionate about caring for animals and the environment. She grew up surrounded by cats, dogs, chickens, guinea pigs, rabbits and fish, and has been utterly obsessed since. She is currently completing her Certificate II in Animal Care, and plans to progress her career further into the animal care industry. At home, Alicia has a rabbit called Harley who is extremely destructive but a well pampered ball of fluff.

Lou Hutton

Lou grew up surrounded by animals and has never stopped loving them in all shapes and sizes. With a grandfather who used to bring home stray cats and a mother who writes about the human-animal connection it was inevitable that Lou would end up with a lifelong passion for animal care.

She has 14 years of experience in animal related industries, with 10 of those years working as a vet nurse. When she’s not working at Vets on Parker she’s deeply invested in animal care, working at a pet shop where she can make use of her extensive knowledge of pet products.

Outside of work you will either find her with her beloved cat Rocky purring on her knee or out running with boisterous dog Daisy (training for yet another marathon)

Elsie Redman

Originally from Ocean Grove, Elsie grew up surrounded by all kinds of animals. Elsie enjoys travelling across Australia to see native animals in their natural habitat, from meeting koalas to swimming with humpback whales. After completing her studies Elsie hopes to be fortunate enough to travel the globe to help orphaned animals or those fighting extinction. Elsie joined our receptionist team in 2024 and looks forward to getting to know all of our wonderful clients and their pets.

Jada Taylor

With her love for animals, Jada is delighted to be a part of the Vets on Parker team as a Cattery Attendant. Currently studying at the University of Melbourne for her Bachelor of Science, Jada is excited to learn more about animal care and the veterinary industry as she hopes to major in Veterinary Bioscience. At home, she has two dogs: Lola the Beaglier and Charlie the Jack Russell Terrier, who never fail to make her laugh and serve as a constant reminder of why she adores animals. Outside of work, Jada enjoys hiking and crochet, as well as pursuing her interests in wildlife conservation.

Zoe Apostolides

Zoe grew up loving animals; with her father working for the RSPCA he was always bringing a stray animal home – everything from rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, birds, and of course cats and dogs.

Zoe has always wanted to follow in her dad’s footsteps and work in the animal industry, so starting a career as a vet nurse seemed just right. When she’s not cuddling dogs and cats you’ll find her tending to the large range of wildlife that comes through our clinic doors.

Her boisterous puppy Lana is often at work causing mischief and stealing attention (and food) from all the staff. Zoe also has a crazy food driven cat named Harvey, so between the two of them she is kept on her toes.

Alara Kurcan

Alara is currently studying Animal and Veterinary Bioscience at La Trobe University, driven by a lifelong passion for working with animals. From a young age Alara has always wanted to be a veterinarian, surrounded by pets like dogs, birds, and cats. As a cattery attendant at Vets on Parker she is committed to providing compassionate care and support for every animal, while continuing to expand her knowledge in the field.

Hailey Harman

Hailey has always had a love for animals, growing up in the country town of Greendale with cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, guinea pigs, rabbits, sheep and stick insects! She particularly has a passion for birds, African wildlife and conservation after visiting South Africa in 2025 on placement.

She is delighted to be part of the Vets on Parker team as one of our cattery attendants, and is excited to learn and grow in her knowledge of animal care. She is currently studying in her final year of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience at La Trobe University and hopes to study Veterinary Medicine in the years to come.

She has two cats (her big boy Loki and little girl Sylvie) and 2 pet chickens (Willow and Dove), who live at home with her family in Bacchus Marsh. In her spare time Hailey does pet sitting on the side and loves Parkrun on a Saturday, overnight hiking, kayaking and crocheting.

Tatiana Lordanidis

Tatiana is an all animal lover. She has just completed her Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Biosciences and is eager to expand her knowledge and skills working at Vets on Parker.