Dr. David Northeast

Our next staff profile is our boss, our friend, the owner and the head vet at the Oakleigh Central Vet. Here is a little more information about how David came to be a Vet.

David's story starts in East Bentleigh where he grew up with his family and a house hold that always included pets. As a young child he particularly remembers having a Cocker Spaniel named Pal. She has several large litters of puppies requiring David and his siblings to help bottle rear them, perhaps this is where the seed of passion for caring for animals was planted.

He was exposed to a menagerie of other animals via his cousins dairy farm in Koonwarra, South Gippsland. There were always chickens, ducks and the occasional orphaned lamb that managed to find their way back to East Bentleigh for hand rearing. David had decided to become a veterinarian at a very young age.

David attended the local Eastmoor Primary School then secondary school at Caulfield Grammar. He didn't quite get the ATAR of 98 for Veterinary Science so instead he studied Science at Monash University instead. Here he obtained top marks and was able to gain entry into Veterinary Science at the Sydney University. He studied in Sydney for a few years before transferring to Melbourne University to complete his degree closer to home. He graduated in 1991.

The Veterinary Science degree exposes you to all fields in the Veterinary industry initially it was the Dairy Veterinarian field which most interested David however, in his final year he did placement with an orthopaedic surgeon in Clayton and was offered a job there 6 months before finishing his degree. He was very proudly the first student to have a job in his year!

David worked for a year in Clayton where he gained a wealth of knowledge and experience. His second year out of Uni he was employed by an equine veterinarian to set up and run a small animal clinic for him in Cranbourne. The clinic grew rapidly but after a year running it by himself he moved to the Noble Park Vet where he worked for four and a half years.

David met Anne-Elise late in 1996 and in 1997 the desire to own and run a Veterinary Practice of his own saw him set up Oakleigh Central Veterinary Clinic in a derelict medical clinic. Almost a year after setting up the clinic David and Anne-Elise were married. They have two teenage children Ben and Amy.

When not working, David and his family enjoy Four Wheel Driving and camping in the bush as well as staying at his parents holiday house in Koonwarra. They have a very spoilt Labrador named Holly and a very cuddly rag doll cat named Ruby.

David finds all aspects of Veterinary practice interesting. He enjoys surgery and orthopaedics as well as medicine and cannot imagine doing anything else. Over the years the clinic has grown and had several renovations, the most recent renovation last year was based on plans he originally drew up over 10 years ago!

The clinic has now become the practice that he dreamed of.