An international network of veterinarians

Andrew graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 1986, and apart from a short stint in New Zealand has worked in farm animal practice in the UK ever since. He is Senior Director of Synergy Farm Health, an independent 45 vet farm animal practice covering much of the South-West of England.

Clinically he is interested in proactive health planning programmes and calf health, and holds a Certificate in Cattle Health and Production from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He has an active interest in Responsible Use of Medicines and the steps we can take in veterinary practice to minimise the impact on AMR (anti-microbial resistance) and also the role of farm animal practitioners within a sustainability agenda.

Having been Managing Director of Synergy Farm Health since inception in 2009 until November 2021, his responsibilities include exploring opportunities for Business Development, being involved in Medicines procurement and providing advisory services to Senior Management. He is very motivated by people development and education and has been heavily involved with the development of the Synergy/RVC Internship programme and the Farm Animal Teaching rotation for final year veterinary students with the Royal Veterinary College, University of London.

Andrew is POV (Principal Official Veterinarian) of Farmcare West Ltd; on the medicines procurement Team for XLVets UK Ltd; Non-Executive Director for VDS (Veterinary Defence Society) and a Governor at Kingston Maurward College, Dorchester. He received the UK Food & Farming Industry Animal Health Adviser of the year award in 2019, and was awarded the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (FRCVS) in 2020 for meritorious contributions to the Veterinary Profession.

Mark Bryan is a veterinarian and researcher working in New Zealand. He is a director of VetSouth, one of two clinical research clinics in the South Island and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Dairy Cattle Medicine at Massey University. He has promoted methods to retain quality staff in rural practice and to improve veterinary services and research.

Katrine Lawaetz graduated from University of Copenhagen in 2009, and became DVA certified in Herd Health management, disease and reproduction in 2015. She is Managing director of Vestjyske Dyrlæger, a mixed practice located in the western most part of Denmark, and is currently working as a dairy herd health consultant. Her main focus is strategic development of business be it vet practices, farms or organisations. Constantly seeking to inspire and enable vet professionals and vet-led businesses to professionalise their business, create attractive workplaces and to lead on all aspects of sustainability. Katrine joined the board of Dyrlæger & Ko in 2013 and was elected chair in 2020.

David is Managing Director of Paragon Veterinary Group, a two centre, 18 vet, mixed practice in Cumbria.  His main clinical interest is in dairy practice, gaining his Diploma in Bovine Reproduction in 1998, and becoming an RCVS Recognised Specialist in Cattle Health and Production in 2003. He recently achieved his DVetMed (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) at Nottingham University, based on cattle advanced breeding and the effects of minerals on cattle fertility.

Although he has, after 12 years, recently retired from the Board of XLVets, a group of independent veterinary practices who work collaboratively together to deliver “Excellence in Practice”, he is still closely involved with several projects.

He is Managing Director of Activf-ET, an exciting consortium delivering advanced breeding technologies to the UK cattle industry and beyond, which resulted from two recently completed Innovate UK supported projects, partnering with Semex and the Universities of Nottingham and Kent, working on ovum pickup (OPU), in-vitro production (IVP) of embryos and genomic analysis of embryos in cattle.

He is Senior Independent Director of the Veterinary Defence Society (VDS), treasurer of, and representative of the UK on the committee of the World Association for Buiatrics, and is a member of the Dairy Science Forum.

Lewis graduated from Glasgow University in 1978. Business management in a veterinary environment has always been a passion of Lewis’s. Having emigrated from Wales to New Zealand in 1990, he soon formed Riverside
Veterinary Services in Ashburton and supervised the rapid growth of this practice into one of the largest in New Zealand at the time. Lewis was awarded an MBA from Canterbury
University in 2005. He has been a member of the board of the New Zealand Veterinary
Association and served two terms as President.
More recently Lewis has provided strategic planning, valuation and succession planning
services to veterinary practices and has served as chairman/director on a number of
veterinary boards, including VetSouth Ltd and Synergy Farm Health Ltd.
He currently spends part of each year in the UK where he works as a project manager.