Our Staff
Owners Dr Bettina and Max Janse bring over 15 years of management and veterinary industry experience in both city and rural Australia.
Dr Bettina Janse
Our principal Veterinarian is Dr Bettina Janse. Bettina graduated from Murdoch University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery with Honours. Dr Bettina started her veterinary career with a country posting which culminated in being the principal veterinarian and manager of Kalgoorlie Small Animal Hospital. Kalgoorlie is a vibrant and busy town which provided Dr Bettina with a solid grounding in small animal medicine and surgery, emergency treatment and equine medicine. Upon her return to Perth she focused on small animal medicine and surgery. Dr Bettina developed a reputation as an excellent surgeon with a caring and personal service to clients. However, Dr Bettina's ultimate goal was to implement her customer focused skills on her own practice and in February 2005 she succeeded in opening MalagaVet. MalagaVet is a family owned business spearheaded by Bettina's veterinary vision. Dr Bettina's special interests are small animal medicine and surgery, dermatology and pathology.
Max Janse
Max Janse is Dr Bettina's husband and co-owner of MalagaVet, putting in a great deal of time and hard work to get the hospital up and running in the first place. Max graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Computer Science and has experience in IT consulting, computer systems and project management. However, he finds it much more enjoyable to run the business part of the hospital, with the benefit of being able to talk to the hospital patients while at work. This partnership allows Dr Bettina to spend more time with her patients, and less time on the more technical aspects of owning a small business.
Dr Janelle Kirkwood
Dr Janelle Kirkwood is a full time associate veterinarian at MalagaVet. Janelle graduated from Murdoch University in November 2009, working in small animal practice upon graduating, before joining our practice in April 2011. Janelle is a Perth native who now has some years of experience in small animal medicine and surgery. Couple that with a very caring and understanding manner, Janelle is fast establishing herself as a great veterinarian, and an essential part of our Malagavet family. Janelle has special interests in small animal medicine, and brings enthusiasm and up to the minute knowledge with her to MalagaVet. She enjoys the company of two lucky cats who keep her entertained at home.
Dr Kathryn Levitzke
Dr Kathryn Levitzke is our newest full time veterinary staff member at MalagaVet. Kathryn graduated from Murdoch University in November 2011 and commenced her veterinary career with us in January 2012. She brings a fresh new perspective to MalagaVet and we look forward to helping her pursue her dream of becoming a vet at our practice. She is developing her skills by working alongside our experienced team daily and using the vast amount of knowledge taught at university to help her patients live better, healthier and longer lives. Kathryn has a special interest in veterinary dermatology.
Chris Hedington
Chris Hedington is a Senior Veterinary Nurse with 15 years experience in veterinary nursing. Chris is a graduate of Murdoch University, finishing in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree. She has since also completed her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing, making her a unique and knowledgeable staff member. There is not much that Chris hasn’t seen over the years, so she can assist with any problem big or small. Chris is the proud owner of three feline friends; Shadow, Harley and Boris. She loves them all dearly despite their antics and endless supply of cat hair in her house! Chris now works part time at MalagaVet so that she can focus on her young family as well.
Natalie D'Silva 
Natalie is a qualified Veterinary Nurse and works in a part time nursing position at MalagaVet. Natalie finished her Certificate IV in veterinary nursing in 2003 and has spent time working in both Australia and most recently in the United Kingdom where she specialised in emergency medicine and critical care. Natalie is busy studying at Murdoch University when she is not working at MalagaVet. Natalie's special interest and first love is horses although she loves her small animal companions as well. Natalie owns a quarter horse called Banjo who is conveniently agisted the Swan Valley giving Natalie plenty of opportunity to go riding and enjoy the beautiful enviroment on our doorstep.
Lauren Bartlett
Lauren Bartlett is a qualified Veterinary Nurse who joined the team at MalagaVet in January 2009. Lauren is building on her skills at MalagaVet and is the proud owner of a canine companion, Lily and three mischievous orphaned feline friends. Lauren showed extraordinary compassion and care for these three cats whom she hand reared from the age of just 3 weeks! This is a very difficult task which Lauren put a great deal of time and effort into. You should see how big those grown up "kittens" are now! Lauren is also a little bit daring and enjoys riding motorbikes in her spare time.
Tarryn Sandler
Tarryn Sandler obtained her certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing in December 2008. Tarryn joined MalagaVet in early 2008 whilst studying veterinary nursing. Tarryn now works for the Australian Red Cross, but continues to run our Puppy PreSchool at MalagaVet. Tarryn has a particular interest in puppies and canine behaviour, and has tailor made puppy pre-school classes for MalagaVet. These have been specifically designed to give new puppy owners the best possible start on their journey of owning a dog. See our News page for more information about these classes, and for the next class time please contact us for more details.
Jade Hammer
Jade joined the MalagaVet team in mid 2010. Jade is a trainee Veterinary Nurse who is working part-time with MalagaVet while studying at Polytechnic West to gain her veterinary nursing qualification. Jade is very enthusiastic and keen to learn everything about animal care and behaviour. She is the loving owner of Bamboo, her one canine companion. Jade has worked in a number of different industries prior to joining us, but is very happy to be finally pursuing her dream of becoming a veterinary nurse. We wish her well with her studies and we know that she will become an excellent qualified vet nurse.
Lisa Stanley
Lisa started at MalagaVet doing work experience as part of her studies in Veterinary Nursing in mid 2010. In a short time we realised what a valuable addition to our team Lisa would be, and she commenced part-time work with out. Lisa complete her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing in December 2010 and continues to work with us part time in 2010. Lisa has a young daughter and the latest addition to her family is a small tabby kitten called Maddie. Maddie was obtained from the Cat haven in Shenton Park in early December 2010 and has already taken over the house, as cats do!. She is much adored, especially by Lisa's 4 year old daughter.
