Meet The Team

Jenny Bowen-Smith

Jenny is our full time senior veterinary surgeon. She graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2011 and has worked across the UK, but grew up on the Wirral. She has spent a large portion of her career working in emergency and critical care situations, and has a
post-graduate certificate in this area. She is a fellow of the higher education authority and like all our vets is involved in teaching our undergraduates as well as our final years in clinics.

Her current interests are chronic pain management, especially in arthritis cases, and she has been trained in Western Veterinary Acupuncture to complement our normal medical approaches to pain management. Jenny is the vet responsible for our pain clinics.

Rob Campbell

Rob is our full time veterinary surgeon. He is originally from Inverness in the highlands of Scotland and graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2018. From there, Rob worked in mixed practice just outside of Newcastle until March 2020 when he then moved to us at The University Veterinary Practice. Rob is interested in all areas of veterinary and has a particular focus on student teaching and client communication. Outside of work you’ll find Rob either on a badminton court, running a marathon or in an antique shop.

Kirstin Kamps

Kirstin is one of our full-time veterinary surgeons. She holds a BA in Marine Science from UC Santa Cruz and received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2011 from Western University of Health Sciences, just outside Los Angeles.

Prior to joining us in Liverpool, she spent 10 years practicing as a locum smallies veterinarian in California, traveling around the entire state. In those years she partnered with over 100 clinics ranging from single exam room rural practices all the way up to 30+ veterinarian referral clinics. Last year she took some time off to volunteer in Romania, providing vaccines and Pet Passports for Ukrainian families, and with an animal shelter in Tanzania. Her main interests are in preventative care; she really enjoys dentistry and arthritis management for senior pets. 

Filipe Martinho

Filipe is our full-time exotics vet and responsible for the exotics clinical service at the UVP. He graduated from Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, in 2002, and has been involved ever since with exotics and wildlife medicine. In 2016 he moved to the UK to work at a busy exotics referral practice, and in 2020 joined the University of Liverpool to set up the exotics service.

Filipe is also responsible for the clinical teaching of exotics/wildlife medicine to veterinary students at the University of Liverpool. His main areas of interest are reptile and amphibian medicine and imaging, especially ultrasonography applied to exotic pets.

Hattie Boulding

Hattie is one of our full-time veterinary surgeons. She is originally from the Gower Peninsula in South Wales and graduated from Liverpool University in 2023. Before training as a vet, Hattie graduated from Durham University with a first-class degree in psychology and worked in private healthcare for four years in London. 

Hattie is interested in all aspects of veterinary medicine but particularly enjoys surgery and emergency care. Outside of work, she enjoys trail running, hiking, and horse-riding.

Rachel Williams 

Rachel is one of our full-time registered veterinary nurses. She has been working in the industry for over ten years and qualified as an RVN in 2018. Rachel enjoys consults, seeing clients regularly and caring for pets throughout every stage of life. She also enjoys caring for all the weird and wonderful exotic patients at the UVP, learning something new every day.

Rachel is a mother to Eli and has a dog named Tiny, and in her spare time she enjoys going for walks and taking photographs.

Becky Hampshire

Becky is one of our full-time veterinary surgeons. She graduated from Bristol University in 2015 and worked at busy small animal practices in Bolton and Manchester before joining our team in May 2022. Becky enjoys all aspects of veterinary medicine and surgery, but mostly the chance to meet all of your lovely pets! Outside of work, Becky enjoys hiking, running and rock climbing.

Ashleigh Thurston

Ashleigh graduated from Myerscough University Centre with a FdSc in Veterinary Nursing with Distinction in 2016. She has since completed her BSc Top-up in Veterinary Nursing and graduated from Myerscough University Centre with First Class Honours in 2019. She has experience working in a university referral hospital, general practice and clinical pathology laboratory. After qualifying as a RVN she worked at a busy first opinion practice and has spent the last 4 years working for the University of Liverpool Small Animal Practice and is involved in the training of final year undergraduate veterinary students. She recently presented her own research at BVNA Congress and has published many articles in international peer-reviewed journals. Ashleigh's main areas of interest are anaesthesia, acute and chronic pain management, evidence-based veterinary medicine and weight management and theatre nursing. She is currently working towards completing a Nursing Certificate in Anaesthesia.

Ashleigh has a rescue cat called Miso and a little border terrier called Cholula.

Rachel Henebery

Rachel is one of our full time veterinary nurses. She started working in practice as an animal care assistant and qualified as an RVN in 2008 and achieved her advanced nursing diploma in 2014. Rachel has worked in general practice and in a multi-disciplinary referral hospitals. She joined the team in 2018 and enjoys all aspect of practice especially inpatient and critical care nursing.  Rachel is currently working towards her emergency and critical care certificate. Out of work Rachel likes travelling, walking and has a cat called Simon

Desiree Del Mondo

Desiree is one of our full-time Registered Veterinary Nurses. She gained vocational training in Italy as a veterinary care assistant and moved to the UK in 2016. She started working in practice as a patient care assistant and qualified as an RVN in 2022. Desiree has previously worked in a 24h hospital in Liverpool. She joined the team in 2022 and enjoys all aspects of practice, especially inpatient care and anaesthesia. Outside of work, Desiree likes travelling, reading and has two cats called Matisse and Monet

Nancy Taylor

Nancy Taylor is our part-time veterinary nurse. She qualified in 2002 and now has a wealth of experience in small animal general practice. She has worked for the University Veterinary Practice since 2004, and is an extremely experienced and established member of the team.

Nancy is married with two children and is a keen pet owner; she has 2 cats, Miffy, Lizzie and two tortoises, named Ronnie and Rita.

Danielle Hayes

Danielle is our full-time animal care assistant. She has worked for the practice since June 2017, having previously worked for the RSPCA for five years. She is interested in in-patient care and spends her days helping to care for the patients staying at the Practice.

She is an avid animal lover, and has one horse, two dogs, seven guinea pigs and an aviary with a variety of birds.

Gareth Quinn

Gareth Quinn is our Practice Administrator. He worked in the Client Services Department at the University’s Small Animal Teaching Hospital at Leahurst for a number of years, before moving to the University Veterinary Practice. He has a wealth of experience in customer service and understands the importance of this to any successful veterinary practice. Gareth is part of the client services team here at the practice and is available for any administration or financial related queries.

Gareth’s wife Hannah also works for the University, and they are the parents of an excitable, mischievous little boy and owners of two cats, named Jeff and Barbara.

Sue Thurston

Sue has worked at the Practice since 2013 and is our financial administrator. She has a wealth of experience in this area as well as in customer services. She is always on hand and happy to help with any financial and insurance related queries you may have.

She is married to Graham and has two daughters, Ashleigh and Kiara. By her own admission she is a ‘crazy cat lady’, and currently has four cats, Jazz, Smudge, Stevie and Murphy.

Claire Davies

Claire is our receptionist and administrator. She has worked for the University for over 14 years, in a variety of customer focused roles. Before joining the Practice, Claire worked in the client services team at the University’s Small Animal Teaching Hospital for three years. She brings this wealth of experience in customer environments to the Practice team.

Claire lives with her partner Mark, her daughter Norah and stepson Daniel.

Kiara Thurston

Kiara is the newest member of our reception team and has been working at the practice since 2022. She has worked in the customer service sector for the past 8 years and enjoys all aspects of working with the public. She is also a massive animal lover and particularly enjoys meeting all your furry friends. Out of work Kiara loves cooking and baking and two cats, Coal and Duke.