Our Team
Get to Know Us
Dr Graeme Penno
BVMS BSc
Practice Owner
Veterinary Surgeon
Graeme graduated from Murdoch University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1992. He then started working in mix animal practice in Midland and Bullsbrook from 1993 to 1995.
Graeme met his wife, Lisa at Midland Vet practice. After marrying in 1995 they traveled and worked in the UK and Europe for 12 months.
After returning from the UK, Graeme worked as a locum around WA. Spending a month in a locum position at Northam Veterinary Centre, led him to become a partner at this clinic and eventually sole partner with his wife Lisa.
Graeme has since added 4 beautiful daughters, 135 acres of land, 80 head of sheep, 3 alpacas, 1 welsh mountain pony, 2 cats and a beloved huntaway dog.
Graeme enjoys all aspects of mixed animal work and the relationships built with all patients and clients.
Dr Shuen Tan
DVM BSc
Veterinary Surgeon
Shuen grew up in Malaysia and moved to Australia in 2014 to complete her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Murdoch University.
Shuen has a special interest in Surgery, Radioghraphy and Ultrasonography. She has also volunteered with animal health and desexing services for remote communities in the Kimberley region and Thailand.
Shuen has now settled in Northam with her cat Moochi. She enjoys cooking and watching movies.
Dr Melody Ip
BVMS BSc
Veterinary Surgeon
Melody completed her Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery degree from Murdoch University. She has been working in Northam Veterinary Centre since 2015. She enjoys working with small animals, particularly cats and the occasional pocket pets. Melody also has special interest in soft tissue surgeries, veterinary ultrasound and small animal emergencies.
Melody is currently living with two beloved animals, a Labradoodle and a Burmese cat. The best time of the day for her is to spend some quality time with her fur babies at home.
Melody was born and raised in Hong Kong and has settled in Australia since 2008. Any spare time Melody gets, she likes to watch movies, keep fit at dance classes, and travel around different countries.
Lisa Penno
Practice Manager
Veterinary Nurse
After graduating as a Vet Nurse in 1991 Lisa worked at Midland Vet, where she met Graeme as a new graduate. After marrying in 1995 Lisa worked in Cambridge UK and Murdoch Uni, until moving to Northam.
Lisa enjoys life with her husband (Graeme), four daughters (Jorja, Lily, Mikala & Sophie), Huntaway (Fergie), Cats (Tom & Pepper) and pony (Casper).
As practice Manager and partner in the practice Lisa works hard to keep the team, patients and clients, happy and healthy.
Rene'e Wheeldenburg
Veterinary Nurse
Rene’e started her career as a Veterinary Nurse in 1979 at Northam Veterinary Centre, and with life’s adventures she has now done a full circuit and found herself back at Northam where she has been a part of the team since 2003.
Having worked at a number of Mixed animal practices Rene’e is very passionate about animal welfare and can’t imagine working in any other industry.
Being very fortunate as a child to grow up on a farm surrounded by animals Renee’s love and care for all animals was embraced from a very young age.
Rene’e and her partner Tim own a 40 acres hobby farm in the Avon Valley where they have been breeding Morgan horses for 20yrs.
Faithfully always by their sides are their three furrbabies Hayley, Brandy & Zara be it at home or on beach holidays.
Jess Bell
Veterinary Nurse
Jess is a registered Veterinary Nurse, graduating in 2011. She then furthered her studies and completed her Diploma of Veterinary Nursing General Practice in 2015. She has been with Northam Vet Centre since 2016 after getting married and moving to Northam.
It’s safe to say she had a love for animals from a young age growing up with a variety of pets including cats, dogs, rabbits, chooks, ducks, birds, fish and a rat. She hopes one day to own some property and collect a few more pets.
Liam Sermon
Veterinary Nurse
Born and Raised in the Northam District Liam has worked in several local jobs around the local pets and people since leaving school in 2009. He has always had an interest in the veterinary industry and was pleased to discover and be accepted into the Veterinary Nursing Cert IV offered at Muresk.
Upon completion of the 12-month course he was grateful to be offered a position at the Northam Vet Centre where he has been employed since the end of 2017.
He enjoys meeting and greeting both pets and owners that use the clinic and while he loves most animals, he has a particular regard for the feline patients.
He still currently lives on the family farm, surrounded by the livestock and working dogs as well as his own pet cat Rommel.
Vanessa Davis
Veterinary Nurse
Vanessa has been apart of the Northam Vet since late 2016. She then went on to study her Certificate IV in veterinary nursing at the start of 2017 through Central Regional Tafe.
She has always had a love and passion for animals from a young age, at her farm she has 9 horses, 3 dogs, 5 cats and 4 guinea pigs.
When Vanessa is not a work you can find her out and about competing at horse shows on her trusty steeds Indi, Fairyfloss and Ripper.
Lindley Cassidy
Veterinary Nurse
Lindley is a Registered Vet Nurse who graduated in 2012 from Polytechnic West .
Lindley has always had a passion for animals, raised on a farm with Horses, Cattle and Sheep, even working on Farms/Cattle stations in her late teens early twenty’s.
Now Lindley is a proud mother of a very active 1 yr old son along with all her fur babies. She has two cats, Bourbon and Bacardi, two dogs, Kaida and Jasper, and two horses, Gus and Uno- who Lindley competes on in eventing, when time permits.
Lindley has always ridden and competed from an early age through pony club and now even coaches at Pony Club.
Lee Carmichael
Office Manager
Lee has always had a love of animals so was very excited and fortunate when given the opportunity to work alongside this great team. Lee started as the clinic receptionist in 2000 and enjoyed interacting with the clients and their pets.
Lee is now working 'behind the scenes' involved in the financial administrative duties and while at work she has a furry three legged supervisor, the clinic cat Tripod, who loves to sit beside her and keep her company while she works.
Outside of work, Lee enjoys spending time with her family and they share their home with two very spoiled rabbits Flossie and Cookie.