Elisa Jelleff can’t wait to sink her teeth into learning more about animal dentistry after winning a $5000 veterinary award to explore the specialty.
The young vet nurse from Sunbury Animal Shelter said she has felt like she’s “floating” since she heard she won the VetPartners Dr Stephen Coles Award.
“It’s amazing that they recognised my passion,” Ms Jelleff said.
Ms Jelleff has always been interested in dentistry and after deciding to move away from human oral health, she turned her attention to her other great love: animals.
“[Animal dentistry] is such an important part of animal health and welfare,” Ms Jelleff said.
“They can’t speak to us, they can’t tell us if they’ve got a sore tooth or if something hurts.”
One vet and one vet nurse were chosen out of VetPartners 240 practices and Ms Jelleff said she “almost cried” when she saw she’d won.
“I don’t think I’ve ever won anything that means so much,” Ms Jelleff said.
Dr Stephen Coles was one of the people who launched veterinary dentistry in Australia, and Ms Jelleff is excited to follow in his footsteps.
She’s been at Sunbury Animal Hospital for nearly eight years and can’t wait to work with a dedicated vet dentist one day.
“It’s really going to help me launch off my career,” Ms Jelleff said.
“I’ve been here a long time, I’m really happy at this clinic, it’s a great clinic to work at.
“But the fact that I might actually be able to do a bit more dentistry – it’s just really exciting.”
