MBBS, Bsc(Hons), B.Med.Sci.Hyperbaric
Brought up in North Balwyn, Vanessa has been a sports enthusiast all her life. An avid netballer and swimmer, she also enjoyed underwater hockey while studying Science at The University of Melbourne. Vanessa completed her medical degree at the University of Tasmania and has enjoyed a wide range of experiences as a doctor since. She cut her teeth as a doctor at The World Expo in 1988 and has also been the emergency doctor for the Phillip Island car racing. Her love of sport, and in particular swimming, led Vanessa to take up scuba diving which fostered an interest and subsequent degree in Hyperbaric Medicine. She continued to move around, working at the Royal Hobart Hospital and at the Naval Base ‘Penguin’ in NSW before ‘accidentally’ moving to Frankston. She has since settled on the Mornington Peninsula with her husband and two children. Her daughter has followed her lead into medicine and her son has followed her lead into underwater hockey, playing in the National team. Vanessa’s husband was a Victorian spear fisherman champion for two years running and the family’s love for the outdoors and adventure has seen them travel the world seeking fantastic dive spots. The South Pacific being their favourite place to check out the amazing fish, Galapagos turtles, hammerhead and whale sharks. A stand out holiday was snorkelling in Iguana and Fiji and patting the tiger sharks. Vanessa, who is a partner at Carrum Downs Medical Centre, has taken her love of the outdoors into her practice, setting up her first skin cancer clinic 20 years ago. She loves her work as a general practitioner at Carrum Downs Medical Centre and skin cancer medicine at her Southern Skin Cancer Clinic next door.
