• Our Staff

    OUR STAFF

Dr Jörg Thamm
Principal Veterinary Surgeon

Jörg who hails from Germany  experienced what life and work is like in a few different countries before finally settling in the best place in the world – Tauranga in New Zealand. Jörg gained his veterinary degree at the over 200 years old Berlin Vet School, Alexander von Humboldt in 1995 during which time he completed 3 and 4 months internships in Paris and New York City. He worked his first year in Germany, then one year in Spain, having to communicate in Spanish. He then moved to the UK where he worked for the next 10 years. There he developed a special interest in orthopaedics and undertook some further training. In 2000 and 2001 he was running an internal orthopaedic referral service for the London branches of a large corporate practice. In 2001 he moved to Cornwall where he developed an animal charity from scratch, called Cornwall Animal Hospital. In 2004 he set up his own three-centre clinic with a purpose-built hospital as the hub in Cornwall (St Clement Vets in Truro). In 2008 Jörg decided to sell up and move to Tauranga, New Zealand in order to embrace the great New Zealand lifestyle. After re-sitting his exams for the NZ Vet Council – Jörg started a mobile vet service in 2010, using an Ambulance to provide a complete surgical and diagnostic service. In 2011 he purpose-built and opened the Mount Vet Hospital as he was missing to utilise his surgical skills in orthopaedics and advanced soft tissue surgery. In 2018 a second purpose built clinic was opened in Tauriko and both clinics are now called KORUVETS.

Jörg loves the NZ outdoor lifestyle and spends a lot of time exploring nature and loves sports such as mountain biking and is obsessed with snow and water skiing. He owns Abbi the Staffi and Minni Magic the cat, both are rescue animals.

 

Dr Genevieve Botha
Veterinarian

Genevieve originates from South Africa where she graduated from Onderstepoort (University of Pretoria) in 2012.
She spent 4 years in a busy small animal hospital with a focus of canine reproduction. In 2017 Genevieve and her husband moved to beautiful Tauranga, joining Koru Vets in 2018.

Genevieve loves primary health care: she enjoys helping your new pet get the best possible start to life and older pets live longer, more comfortable lives. Special interests include reproduction, soft tissue surgery and diagnostic imaging.
After work you can find her climbing the mount, strolling along the beach or hiding with a good book.

stephanie
Dr Stephanie Hpa
Veterinarian

Stephanie started with the team at Koru Vets in April 2023.
She grew up in windy Wellington and studied Veterinary Medicine in Palmerston North. 
The following two years Steph has worked at a mixed animal practice in Tokoroa, mainly working on dairy cattle and small animals. As much as she loved being out in a mud and rain helping cows give birth, she has chosen to focus her career on companion animals. Hence to move to the beautiful Tauranga!

 Outside of work  Stephanie enjoys exploring New Zealand in her campervan and going for walks in nature. She owns Toby, a very gently and loving cavoodle

.Stephanie is looking forward to connecting with each and every client and doing the best for their beloved pets.

qrf
Bridgette
Veterinary Nurse/ Practice Manager

Bridgette is a qualified Diploma Veterinary Nurse, who studied at Otago Polytechnic for her qualification.  She has lived in Tauranga for 24 years.  She has always loved animals and from a young age wanted to be a Veterinary Nurse, but was delayed with overseas travel and raising her four children. As her children are now independent she fulfilled her passion.  She has two dogs “Skyy & Chase” and two cats “Fanta & Nikita”.  Her interests are going to the beach, camping and spending time with her family.

Karina Profile
Karina
Head Veterinary Nurse

Karina grew up in Tauranga and after moving around the country a bit she has finally settled back in Sunny Tauranga. She completed her Diploma of Veterinary Nursing in 2020.

She has always had a passion for animals and has been lucky enough to work with some of New Zealand’s native species; Including the Rowi kiwi, Archey’s frogs, and Mahoenui giant weta during her Bachelors Degree in Animal Behaviour and Biology, which she graduated from Waikato University with in 2017.

She has (some would say bad but she would say great) habit of collecting cats in need and she currently has four adorable (but mischievous) cats. Macey who was found in a dumpster as 8 week old kitten, Sox who was born to a local stray, and finally the troublesome twins Clover and Sebastian who were handed to her clinic at 5 days old. She looks forward to meeting all your fur babies as well.

 

rptnb
Sarah
Veterinary Nurse

Sarah is a qualified Diploma Veterinary Nurse, who studied at Wintec in Hamilton and moved over to Tauranga at the end of her studies, to start her career. She has always had a huge passion for animals, which is why she decided to study to be a Vet Nurse. She has multiple pets, including a Cardigan Welsh Corgi called Arlo, who loves to play with his favourite toy “red disk”, and go for big walks with his mum. Sarah is passionate about the outdoors, in her spare time you find her camping, bush walking, on the beach, anything to do with exploring nature!

lucia profile
Lucia
Veterinary Nurse

Lucia has a diploma in Veterinary Nursing where she studied at Otago Polytechnic and graduated in 2023. She was born and raised in Hamilton but moved to Tauranga in 2021. Lucia has always had a strong love and passion for animals and has always been interested in pursuing a career where
she can give them the best care possible. 

She has one chocolate lab named Lulu and one fluffy cat
named Muckie. Lucia enjoys spending quality time with family and friends, watching or playinsports and is very interested in traveling

rpt
Darian
Veterinary Nurse

Darian has always had a passion for animals, where she has spent time in the past volunteering at rescue shelters. She now looks to pursue her studies and start her qualification to become a vet nurse.

After a few years by the lake and the mountains in Queenstown she has decided to relocate back to the beach, where she now lives in Mount Maunganui.

Darian in her spare time loves hiking, spending time with her family and cuddling her dog Kevin.

rpt
Anya
Veterinary Nurse

Originally from Palmerston North Anya worked in Canada in a Doggy on her OE. 

Since moving back to New Zealand after Covid19 struck, Anya decided she would like to pursue her love in caring for animals and become a qualified vet nurse. Recently Anya studied at Unitec gaining a Certificate In Veterinary Nursing in 2021, and is currently studying towards her Diploma in Vet Nursing through Otago Polytechnic.

Anya has always had a passion for animals and has a Yorkshire Terrier dog and cat of her own which she adores. In her spare time she loves to go on walks, spend time with family and explore the beautiful country we live in.

 

amber profile (2)
Amber
Veterinary Nurse

Amber graduated in 2021 with a Diploma in veterinary nursing,
Born and raised in Auckland, she moved to Mount Maunganui for her dream job and lifestyle working with animals by the beach.

She has always had an interest in caring for animals and has loved

 taking part in volunteer work with the SPCA up in  Auckland.

Amber enjoys spending her time keeping active. Hiking, Surfing, paddle boarding and exploring the outdoors are some of her favorite activities.

 

Natalie profile
Natalie
Veterinary Nurse

Natalie studied at Otago Polytechnic, gaining her Diploma in Veterinary Nursing in 2020. 

Natalie is originally from windy Wellington, but had grown up always coming to the Mount for family holidays and is where her father grew up. She loves the beach and had always wanted to move up here for the lifestyle. She currently has 2 cats back home in Wellington living with her parents, Monty, who is 18 years old and Noelle, who is 2 years old.

She has always had a strong love and passion for animals and loves to travel and experience different cultures, spend time at the beach and out eating with friends.

rptnb
Teisha
Dog Groomer

 Teisha moved to Tauranga in 2015 from Tirau. She loves animals and always had pets growing up, so since she was little she knew that she wanted to work with animals. “I actually thought I would be a farmer, until I moved to the city which pretty much became impossible.

Teisha didn’t even know what grooming was until she moved to Tauranga. When she found out that down the road was a grooming salon/ doggie-day-care she popped in there one day and asked if they needed any volunteer walking the dogs. But instead of walking dog they asked me if I wanted to bath dogs instead. She said and it all started from there. Tge amazing team taught her how to groom and in 2017 Teisha enrolled in the IPG (international Professional Grooming) Course and completed completed Track 1 and 2. Eventually Teisha would love to get her Masters Certificate.