Sarah Riconda DVM MRVCS
Sarah qualified from the University of Bologna (Italy) in 2008 with honours.
Having moved to the UK in 2013 she has worked in small animal practices ever since.
She joined our team in 2020 and enjoys internal medicine and infectious diseases. Sarah also performs the Acupuncture treatments for small animal.
Sarah lives with her husband and her 2 young boys. She enjoys cooking Italian food and baking cakes in her spare time.
Ellen Singer MRCVS
Safia Barakzai BVSc MSc DESTS Dipl. ECVS FRCVS
Safia Barakzai is an internationally recognised specialist in equine surgery. Her expertise lies in soft tissue surgery, and in particular, upper respiratory disorders (‘wind’ problems), dental and sinus surgery and minimally invasive surgical techniques. She is a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Surgeons (ECVS), holds both Certificate and Diploma in Equine Soft Tissue Surgery from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and is a RCVS and ECVS recognised surgical specialist. She has also been an associate member of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging (ECDVI). She qualified from Bristol University in 1998 and started her surgical training at the University of Edinburgh the following year. After her residency, she stayed on at the University of Edinburgh until 2012, working as a senior surgeon in the R(D)SVS referral hospital managing clinical cases, performing clinical research and training many other young equine surgeons who are now surgical specialists in their own right. She then spent 5 years working as an equine surgeon in private practice in the UK and Ireland, before setting up Equine Surgical Referrals as a mobile surgical consultancy in 2017.
Safia’s clinical research includes over 80 peer reviewed publications in the veterinary literature, plus 2 full textbooks and numerous other textbook chapters. Her main research interests are diagnosis and surgery of upper respiratory tract disorders and imaging and surgical treatment of dental and sinus disorders in the horse. She is regularly invited to speak at local, national and international veterinary conferences and has been an examiner and chief examiner for the RCVS certificate.
Based in Sussex Safia visits Towcester Equine Vets on a case-by-case basis to carry out elective surgeries by arrangement. Please speak to a member of our team to discuss surgical referrals.
Dr Jeremy Kemp-Symonds, BA (Hons), BSc (Hons), MSc, BVMS, PGCHE, MRSB, AFHEA, FRSM, MRCVS
Jeremy qualified from the University of Glasgow’s Veterinary School, but also holds degrees from the University of Birmingham, Nottingham Trent University and the Royal Veterinary College, London. After working at the world-renowned Animal Health Trust in Newmarket for a number of years, his private practice now concentrates entirely on the treatment of horses, ponies and donkeys with skin tumours and Jeremy works with numerous veterinary practices and equine charities throughout the United Kingdom.
Jeremy is a member of both the British Medical Laser Association (BMLA) and the European Laser Association (ELA); he is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), a member of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB), an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and a Senior Visiting Fellow at Nottingham Trent University. In addition, he is a member of the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA), the British Veterinary Association (BVA), is a Trustee (and was a former treasurer) for the BEVA Trust and is the Veterinary Consultant for the rescue and welfare charity Bransby Horses. Jeremy has authored and co-authored a number of peer-reviewed publications related to equine oncology in both the UK and Europe and has lectured on the subject at universities and conferences across the world.
Jeremy visits Towcester Equine Vets on a regular basis to carry out elective surgeries by arrangement. Please speak to a member of our team to discuss surgical referrals.
Phil Cramp BSc BVM&S MS Dip ACVS & ECVS MRCVS
Phil is one of the founding Partners of Hambleton Equine Clinic. Having qualified from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in 2005 he completed an Internship at The Equine Medical Centre of Ocala in Florida followed by a Surgical Residency at Michigan State University. As a result of these advanced qualifications he is one of very few veterinary surgeons in the country to hold dual US and European Diplomas in Equine Surgery. His particular areas of interest are lameness and surgery and he has a high racehorse and sports horse caseload. Philip has overseen the design and development of the clinic from the start and as a result has developed a hospital from which he can provide a referral service for vets across the North of England.
Phil visits Towcester Equine Vets on a regular basis to carry out elective surgeries by arrangement. Please speak to a member of our team to discuss surgical referrals.
Danielle A Bowles BVMedSci (Hons) BVM BVS CertAVP MRCVS
Gwen Davies BVMedSci BVM BVS MRCVS
Gwen joined the team in July 2019 as one of the equine interns. Graduating from the University of Nottingham in 2019 Gwen developed a keen interest in lameness work during her studies. She completed an externship at Donnington Grove Veterinary Group, gaining valuable experience in emergency work and inpatient care. Following completion of her internship, Gwen joined the Practice as one of our veterinarary surgeons and hopes to complete a certificate in the near future.
In her spare time, Gwen competes her own horse Campeon up to BE Novice level and enjoys walks with her Cocker Spaniel Panda.
Gemma Kirk BVetMed MRCVS
Gemma graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2008 and has been in equine practice ever since. As a new graduate she worked for a branch of Minster Equine Clinic in Doncaster. She then undertook an internship at Arundel Equine Hospital in West Sussex where she looked after inpatients, carried out anaesthesia and was involved in lameness investigations and diagnostic imaging. Upon completion of her internship, she stayed at Arundel initially as a hospital/lameness assistant and latterly as part of the ambulatory and stud team.
Gemma spent four years directly dividing her time between Northern Hemisphere stud seasons in practice at Arundel and Towcester Equine Vets and Southern Hemisphere seasons as a resident vet at Vinery Stud, Australia. Vinery is a large Thoroughbred farm that is home to around 500 horses with 150-200 mares being bred each season and 150-200 foals arriving every year. Time spent here served as a valuable experience in all areas of equine reproduction and foal care, albeit rather busy at times!
Gemma has been with us at Towcester Equine Vets since March 2016 and is our lead breeding vet; however having been practising for the last thirteen years, is a valuable asset in all areas of the practice. Gemma owns a handsome whippet called Fergus who accompanies her out on the road.
Abi Jennings BVMedSci (Hons) BVM BVS (Hons) CertAVP(EM) MRCVS
Abi joined us in 2015. She graduated from Nottingham University and spent her first year as a hospital intern at Bell Equine in Kent. During this time, she saw a large variety of cases including lots of emergency medicine and gained extensive experience in equine anaesthesia which she has a keen interest in. Abi has a strong bias for internal medicine and has gained a Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice in this field, enabling her to provide current and evidence-based approaches to medical cases. Outside of work she enjoys baking, walking her dog Etta, and scuba diving (but only in warmer waters!), alongside riding her ex-racehorse Annie.
Tamarisk Leeming BSc (Hons) MVSc MRCVS
Tamarisk studied Zoology at Newcastle University and worked in tourism for four years before returning to university to study Veterinary Science at Bristol University. Tam is a keen rider and had been a client for many years; she is a Joint Master of the Grafton Hunt and has recently started hunting sidesaddle. She breeds her own horses and is currently competing one of them up to BE Intermediate level. You can find Tam out on the road carrying out ambulatory duties accompanied by her new puppy!
