Meet the team
Veterinarians
Associate Professor Annabelle Olsson
BVs, MSc, MANZCVA (Avian Med; Wildlife Med)
Annabelle has always had a passion (many say obsession) for all creatures great and small. She began caring for wildlife as a child growing up on the northern outskirts of Sydney. Veterinary Science was a natural progression. She has worked in rural and suburban practice but found her perfect balance in far north Queensland in the late 80s.
She has advanced training and experience in avian, reptile and wildlife medicine, having been admitted to the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists by rigorous examination in two chapters, Avian Health and Wildlife Medicine & Husbandry, and having a high professional caseload of pet birds, reptiles and other unusual or exotic pets.
Annabelle is regularly consulted on forensic medicine and provides expert evidence on various matters. She undertakes national and international consultancies, including crocodile farms and zoos and established conservation projects. Some of these include crocodile monitoring on Cape York and cassowary ecology in the Wet Tropics (with QPWS), macaque management and control for the Invasive Species Network in Micronesia, tiger conservation programmes in Thailand, cassowary monitoring in West Papua, and lecturing on Wildlife Medicine and Conservation Biology in Galapagos.
Annabelle has a strong research focus. Her Masters (in tropical ecology and veterinary science) produced original research on aging data and health parameters in free-living spectacled flying foxes, and her PhD on anaesthesia in estuarine crocodiles has had international impact on crocodile welfare and management. She has been published in textbooks and peer-reviewed journals, and regularly presents at clinical and research focussed conferences worldwide. She also trained in Guam with the Durrell Institute on island species-led conservation initiatives.
Annabelle has assisted in setting up and managing indigenous animal health programmes in many Cape York communities and is involved in training and mentoring of animal management officers. As well as the privilege of assisting remote communities in developing self-sustaining animal health initiatives, she has the bonus of observing such amazing wildlife as palm cockatoos, 5-metre crocodiles, marine turtles and countless other species in their natural habitat while working in what she describes as the most beautiful consulting room in the world!
Annabelle joined the University Of Sydney in 2023.
Dr Sarah Foo
Intern Veterinarian
BA, BVBiol, DVM
From a young age, Sarah has always been involved in rescuing and caring for various animals, volunteering for animal shelters and wildlife organisations, and organising many fundraising events. Prior to enrolling in the DVM, Sarah became the default wildlife rescuer at her Government job. It was only after receiving long service leave that she finally pursued her true passion for animals, completing qualifications as a veterinary nurse, then on to a Bachelor of Veterinary Biology and finally, graduating as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Sydney.
Sarah is very passionate about animal welfare, having received the John Holt Scholarship for Animal Welfare during the DVM and completed training in fear-free handling in various species. She has also written several articles for the RSPCA knowledge based on the care of exotic species.
Sarah also has a special interest in wildlife and exotic pet medicine and has been a wildlife carer for many years, completing additional training in Australian wildlife species, including reptiles, aquatic species, birds and small mammals. Over the years, she has rescued, rehabilitated and released a plethora of Australian natives, and it is not unusual for her to share her home with a variety of different species at any one time.
Sarah has also had additional training in exotics pets, including rabbits, rodents, ferrets and birds, and has many of these species in her own home rescued from various precarious situations.
In her final year of the DVM, Sarah published her first paper on rabbit anaesthesia, which was awarded The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Veterinary Evidence Student Award.
Vet nurses
Joceline Alfaro
Adelle Scott
