Veterinary Association of Namibia
About
Committee Members
Committee Members
Theuns Laubscher - VAN President
VAN President, NMRC and Animal Health Forum
I was born in Windhoek, with a great love, enjoyment and respect of nature fixed in me through my upbringing while spending weekends on a farm near Outjo. I worked on a cattle ranch in Montana, USA after school that confirmed in me that I want to be a vet. I worked at it and graduated in 2017 from Onderstepoort. After that I worked for the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Hluhluwe, KZN in the capacity of CCS and State Vet in 2018. Here my clinical experience has greatly improved in small animal surgery, production animal medicine and wildlife capture. Since then I have been working at Windhoek Veterinary Clinic.
There is still a lot that I can learn from - and by working with more experienced veterinarians, while I do feel confident in handling, diagnosing and treating animals in a mixed animal practice. All aspects of veterinary science fascinates me. I specifically enjoy working with clients, although they may have some interesting ways. Companion animals offer me intellectual stimulation because a more specific diagnosis is often required, than say, production animals. Production animal practice is where my heart lies due to the farming background, and wildlife work is exhilarating. Considering all this, I have a specific interest in surgery.
Lyndsay Scott - VAN Vice President
Vice-president, CPD, World Equine Association
I was born in Tsumeb on 19 September 1987, but spent most of my high school years in Windhoek. After high school I took a “gap year”, working and traveling in the UK and Europe. I started my tertiary studies in Pretoria and graduated from Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty at the University of Pretoria in 2014.
I started working in Otjiwarongo for Dr Elvira Kleber at Elvira’s Veterinary Practice for a couple of years; thereafter I completed my wildlife certification and spent some months with Dr Minty Soni and Dr Alexandra Marko from Rhinopark Veterinary Clinic. I recently started my own veterinary practice (Countryside Veterinary Clinic) in Grootfontein and I am enjoying the rural mixed practice.
I am married to Alex De Koning, a farmer from Grootfontein, and we currently have 2 dogs, 5 cats and 4 chickens.
Philip Groenewald - Treasurer
Philip was born in Durbanville, Cape Town, where he grew up and finished high school in 1996. He completed his BVSc at Onderstepoort in 2004. 2005-2007 Philip worked at Wellington Animal Hospital as a general practitioner in mixed rural practice.
In 2008 he bought Vredendal Dierekliniek and managed this rural mixed practice as a one-man practice. In December 2015 they relocated to Swakopmund where he joined Swakopmund Veterinary Clinic. In July 2017 he started Weco Animal Clinic in Walvis Bay.
His wife’s name is Nikki and together they have two lovely children, Nicola 10 years old and Wehan 7 years old. They enjoy the sea, the dunes and their horses.
Philip is currently studying veterinary chiropractic care after hours.
Dr Andrea Klingelhoeffer - Secretary
Secretary, Manga, Website, WSAVA and WVA
I was born in Windhoek and graduated from the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Veterinary Science in 2016.
I worked as a state veterinarian in Ondangwa in 2017 where I was involved with primary animal healthcare in mainly cattle, goats and chickens as well as rabies control in dogs.
In 2018 I relocated to Windhoek State Veterinary Office, where the work included small animal clinical cases, export certification, import control and inspection of export facilities.
I transferred to Gobabis State Vet in 2019. This was predominantly mixed rural practice with a focus on disease surveillance, maintenance of the disease control fences and import/export control.
I have an interest in fish farming and completed a Certificate in Aquaculture from the University of Stellenbosch in 2020.
I am currently working as a locum.
Dr Saskia Stam
Industry
Dr Saskia Stam, was born in Tsumeb Namibia, where she grew up and went to school. After high school she went to study veterinary science at Onderstepoort, graduating end of 2008
Since then she worked 10 months in Otjiwarongo before moving to swakopmund where she still lives. She opened her own consulting rooms at the end of 2015 and enjoys the time she gets to spend with her patients.
Dr Saskia has a special interest in educating clients and attempting to make her consulting room as fear free as possible working with a lot of patients with past traumatic experiences.
She is currently a mother to one busy little girl, 3 dogs and 2 cats. Loves spending time with her family, swimming and being in the bush.
Dr Saskia joined the VAN committee at the start of 2022 and hopes to learn something new in this diverse group of interesting people.
Dr Shalom Phiri
WSAVA Representative, Rabies Eradication, Welfare
As a daughter of a Vet I grew up around all sorts of animals on a little farm called Tsumis in the Southern part of Namibia. Daily life, once school was out, involved taking long walks around the kraals, running from ostriches or conducting post-mortem’s on all the dead birds I could find. I recently graduated from the University of Namibia with a developed passion for animal welfare, exotic medicine, surgery and educational outreach programs.
I`m currently the Shelter Veterinarian at SPCA Windhoek. When I`m not rehabilitating birds or treating diarrhoea, I spend my time swimming, cycling, watching my partner play basketball or singing at church. My aspirations in life all involve adrenaline, I`m sure this stems from all the running from ostriches that I had to do as a kid. When I grow up, I want to travel to war torn or disaster stricken areas to rescue animals. Greetings from my cat Anniesnd my dog Minnie.
Dr Cveta Pudar
Dr Cveta Pudar was born and grew up in Oranjemund. She had a keen interest in veterinary medicine since a young age.
She started volunteering at the local vet rooms in 2001. After finishing high school in 2005, Cveta was employed by Southern Cross Veterinary practice (SCVP) for 2 years, during which time she also studied dog behaviour and owned and ran a grooming parlour.
In 2007 she moved to Serbia, but returned in 2011 to work as a vet assistant in Walvis Bay, again with SCVP. Cveta attended vet school at UNAM in Windhoek, qualifying in 2021, and returned to SCVP in the same year.
She is a cat lady, loves reading, and has a a crush on all things Land Rover.
Dr Olebile Olibile
Dr Christian Lichtenberg
VAN President, NMRC and Animal Health ForumI was born in Windhoek, with a great love, enjoyment and respect of nature fixed in me through my upbringing while spending weekends on a farm near Outjo. I worked on a cattle ranch in Montana, USA after school that confirmed in me that I want to be a vet. I worked at it and graduated in 2017 from Onderstepoort. After that I worked for the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Hluhluwe, KZN in the capacity of CCS and State Vet in 2018. Here my clinical experience has greatly improved in small animal surgery, production animal medicine and wildlife capture. Since then I have been working at Windhoek Veterinary Clinic.
There is still a lot that I can learn from - and by working with more experienced veterinarians, while I do feel confident in handling, diagnosing and treating animals in a mixed animal practice. All aspects of veterinary science fascinates me. I specifically enjoy working with clients, although they may have some interesting ways. Companion animals offer me intellectual stimulation because a more specific diagnosis is often required, than say, production animals. Production animal practice is where my heart lies due to the farming background, and wildlife work is exhilarating. Considering all this, I have a specific interest in surgery.
Lyndsay Scott - VAN Vice President
Vice-president, CPD, World Equine AssociationI was born in Tsumeb on 19 September 1987, but spent most of my high school years in Windhoek. After high school I took a “gap year”, working and traveling in the UK and Europe. I started my tertiary studies in Pretoria and graduated from Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty at the University of Pretoria in 2014.
I started working in Otjiwarongo for Dr Elvira Kleber at Elvira’s Veterinary Practice for a couple of years; thereafter I completed my wildlife certification and spent some months with Dr Minty Soni and Dr Alexandra Marko from Rhinopark Veterinary Clinic. I recently started my own veterinary practice (Countryside Veterinary Clinic) in Grootfontein and I am enjoying the rural mixed practice.
I am married to Alex De Koning, a farmer from Grootfontein, and we currently have 2 dogs, 5 cats and 4 chickens.
Philip Groenewald - Treasurer
Philip was born in Durbanville, Cape Town, where he grew up and finished high school in 1996. He completed his BVSc at Onderstepoort in 2004. 2005-2007 Philip worked at Wellington Animal Hospital as a general practitioner in mixed rural practice.
In 2008 he bought Vredendal Dierekliniek and managed this rural mixed practice as a one-man practice. In December 2015 they relocated to Swakopmund where he joined Swakopmund Veterinary Clinic. In July 2017 he started Weco Animal Clinic in Walvis Bay.
His wife’s name is Nikki and together they have two lovely children, Nicola 10 years old and Wehan 7 years old. They enjoy the sea, the dunes and their horses.
Philip is currently studying veterinary chiropractic care after hours.
Dr Andrea Klingelhoeffer - Secretary
Secretary, Manga, Website, WSAVA and WVAI was born in Windhoek and graduated from the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Veterinary Science in 2016.
I worked as a state veterinarian in Ondangwa in 2017 where I was involved with primary animal healthcare in mainly cattle, goats and chickens as well as rabies control in dogs.
In 2018 I relocated to Windhoek State Veterinary Office, where the work included small animal clinical cases, export certification, import control and inspection of export facilities.
I transferred to Gobabis State Vet in 2019. This was predominantly mixed rural practice with a focus on disease surveillance, maintenance of the disease control fences and import/export control.
I have an interest in fish farming and completed a Certificate in Aquaculture from the University of Stellenbosch in 2020.
I am currently working as a locum.
Dr Saskia Stam
IndustryDr Saskia Stam, was born in Tsumeb Namibia, where she grew up and went to school. After high school she went to study veterinary science at Onderstepoort, graduating end of 2008
Since then she worked 10 months in Otjiwarongo before moving to swakopmund where she still lives. She opened her own consulting rooms at the end of 2015 and enjoys the time she gets to spend with her patients.
Dr Saskia has a special interest in educating clients and attempting to make her consulting room as fear free as possible working with a lot of patients with past traumatic experiences.
She is currently a mother to one busy little girl, 3 dogs and 2 cats. Loves spending time with her family, swimming and being in the bush.
Dr Saskia joined the VAN committee at the start of 2022 and hopes to learn something new in this diverse group of interesting people.
Dr Shalom Phiri
WSAVA Representative, Rabies Eradication, WelfareAs a daughter of a Vet I grew up around all sorts of animals on a little farm called Tsumis in the Southern part of Namibia. Daily life, once school was out, involved taking long walks around the kraals, running from ostriches or conducting post-mortem’s on all the dead birds I could find. I recently graduated from the University of Namibia with a developed passion for animal welfare, exotic medicine, surgery and educational outreach programs.
I`m currently the Shelter Veterinarian at SPCA Windhoek. When I`m not rehabilitating birds or treating diarrhoea, I spend my time swimming, cycling, watching my partner play basketball or singing at church. My aspirations in life all involve adrenaline, I`m sure this stems from all the running from ostriches that I had to do as a kid. When I grow up, I want to travel to war torn or disaster stricken areas to rescue animals. Greetings from my cat Anniesnd my dog Minnie.
Dr Cveta Pudar
Dr Cveta Pudar was born and grew up in Oranjemund. She had a keen interest in veterinary medicine since a young age. She started volunteering at the local vet rooms in 2001. After finishing high school in 2005, Cveta was employed by Southern Cross Veterinary practice (SCVP) for 2 years, during which time she also studied dog behaviour and owned and ran a grooming parlour.
In 2007 she moved to Serbia, but returned in 2011 to work as a vet assistant in Walvis Bay, again with SCVP. Cveta attended vet school at UNAM in Windhoek, qualifying in 2021, and returned to SCVP in the same year.
She is a cat lady, loves reading, and has a a crush on all things Land Rover.
Dr Olebile Olibile
Dr Christian Lichtenberg
