About Us

Mike is the Veterinary Director of NADIS, with over 25 years of experience in livestock disease surveillance, parasite forecasting and promoting disease prevention through veterinary health planning. NADIS has developed several innovative digital tools to improve animal health, including its beef and sheep health and performance planners, recently launched in the UK. A clinical sign recognition App has been developed to improve the accuracy of disease identification by vet paraprofessionals in Kenya. This is a joint venture project with the Africa Veterinary Technicians Association (AVTA) funded by GALVmed, Welsh Government and MSD. NADIS` aim is to improve animal health and productivity through better disease prevention, and will be highlighting the linkage between animal and soil health to help make farms more resilient to climate change. The NADIS team are passionate about working to improve animal health and welfare through disease prevention.

Mike also runs an organic beef farm in Pembrokeshire where he practices regenerative farming and is passionate about enabling farmers to mitigate against climate change and make their farms more resilient. In his spare time he enjoys sailing, sea swimming and spending time with his wife Jo and grandchildren.

Sharon qualified from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 2004, having also done an intercalated degree in Agriculture at Wye College in Kent. She immediately went into farm practice in Cardigan, West Wales and then in 2006 went to work in New Zealand for 12 months in predominantly dairy practice. On her return to the UK, she took a farm animal job at a practice in Pembrokeshire where over time she developed the health planning side to the business, this role allowed her to strengthen her knowledge and skills for flock and beef herd health as well as dairy.

In 2017 Sharon joined NADIS to help develop the health planning services, then in 2018 the Wales based Animal Health and Welfare programme began which she has been the lead vet for the programme.

Sharon lives on a smallholding with her family and flock of pedigree Kerry Hill sheep. When not working with the sheep she spends most of her free time taking her daughters to various activities, walking or reading.

Phillipa qualified from Liverpool Vet School in 2006 and started her first job in Neath, South Wales in a mixed practice. Following a short time as a locum dairy vet in Devon she then joined Wood Vet group in 2009 as a large animal vet. Her work was predominantly dairy but she had a special interest in sheep and developed the sheep side of the practice.

In 2016 she then moved to specialize in sheep veterinary work with Flock Health Ltd. This involves a mixture of consultancy flock health work, farmer and vet CPD training and collaboration with retailers, processors and pharmaceutical companies and industry levy bodies. Phillipa was part of the co design groups for the DEFRA Animal Health and Welfare Pathway and Endemics disease program.

Phillipa also works with NADIS (National Animal Disease Information Service) as the sheep lead on the Blowfly, parasite control, online health planning and disease alerts information.

She is the President of the Sheep Veterinary Society and conference organiser and has been a board member on the British Cattle Veterinary Association.

Phillipa authored and published a book, ‘Sheep Keeping’ (as featured with Jeremy Clarkson on Clarkson's Farm!) by 5M Publishing and the chapter ‘Lameness’ in Differential Diagnosis in Sheep. 2022 Herriot Publications. She is involved with research and works on regular contributions to publications and is a resident of the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management.

Outside of work she is a sports taxi to two boys and is a tenant sheep farmer on 100 acres with her family, has a farm shop and runs ultramarathons, plays netball and drinks coffee and wine.

Joel graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 2016. He has worked exclusively in livestock veterinary medicine, starting with an internship in North Devon, going on to work in New Zealand, Pembrokeshire and Herefordshire. He gained a wealth of experience in a range of systems from large dairy farms to smallholders.

Joel and his wife love travelling the world, spending a calving season working in the North Island of New Zealand in 2019 before travelling around the South Island, Australia and South-East Asia until COVID put a stop to that. He has always had a keen interest in development, teaching and training, and although he wouldn’t admit it – he is a bit of a tech wizz as well.

All of this is what led Joel to work at NADIS. Joel is a Veterinary Advisor on NADIS’ African Clinical Veterinary Livestock Apps (ACVLA) project, enjoying the challenge of bringing useful tools to those who need them most.

Outside of work he spends most of his time ensuring his two little ones are clothed, fed and watered. He also enjoys running, DIY and walking his spaniel.

Ian Gill qualified as a vet from Edinburgh in 1979 and worked at a mixed practice in Angus, Scotland. He obtained the Certificate in Sheep Health and Production in 1987 and has been involved with NADIS helping to develop sheep health planning nationally. He was an Advisor to the Moredun for 17 years and was a trustee of Livestock Health Scotland. He is a past President of the International Sheep Vet Association. Having attended all 10 International Congress he has made many veterinary friends around the world many of whom have contributed images for the African Clinical Veterinary App.

Nikki graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2006 and spent the first 15 years in farm and mixed practice in West and then Mid Wales, where she had a special interest in suckler herds, management and infectious disease control, alongside a European Certificate in Sheep Health and Production (ESVPS GPcert) and a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences. She has also been a senior centre veterinarian at a bull AI stud, furthering her interest in bull fertility and management. She has spent clinical sabbatical time in South Africa, Caribbean and India, working as a volunteer vet in rural communities.

She is a past board member and President of the British Cattle Veterinary Association and has experience of stakeholder engagement across a diverse section of the industry, and has sat on many boards including farm assurance, government, bTB and education.

She is a part time veterinary advisor for Nadis on the cattle side, alongside locum veterinary work and emergency ECC practice. She is also currently a director of the Wales Veterinary Delivery Partner Iechyd Da, and likes to spend her spare time baking, renovating her old cottage and trying to train her working cocker spaniel to become a gundog!

Emma qualified from Edinburgh Vet School in 2001. She returned south, followed her West Country roots, starting her first mixed practice job in Bodmin, Cornwall. While Emma thoroughly enjoyed the variety of mixed practice, seeing anything from cattle to guinea pigs, from horses to police dogs, her real passion was farm work. She rapidly expanded the routine dairy work within the practice, taking particular interest in whole herd health management and fertility. This was mirrored in the ever-expanding beef sector. After 13 years, and after having her daughter, Emma decided it was time for a change. She turned right instead of left, and joined Westpoint Farm vets in 2014. Her work was predominantly dairy, but Emma also had a keen interest in beef cattle. She was pivotal in creating a network of increasingly proactive beef farmers, wanting to improve their herds. Emma is a trained TBAS advisor, keen to engage with farmers to reduce the incidence of TB within their herds. She is a GDP supervisor, helping train newly qualified vets in practice. In 2020, the branch of Westpoint Farm Vets that Emma managed was merged with Calweton Farm Vets. Emma still loves general farm practice, and in particular, bringing new life into the world over silly spring season.

Emma also works for NADIS (National Animal Disease Information Service) as a veterinary advisor.

Outside of work, Emma has multiple other full-time jobs! She, and her other half, Dave, have a pedigree South Devon beef sucker and sheep farm in Cornwall. They met over an out-of-hours post-calving uterine prolapse. Having 2 sports mad children, she is often ferrying them all over the county to various sporting fixtures. If there is any spare time in the day, Emma can be found riding her ex-racehorse, or in the sea.

With over 20 years of experience in the veterinary industry, Hailey has developed a broad understanding of the challenges and questions that veterinary practices face every day.

Her role within NADIS involves managing a wide variety of account queries and general enquiries, and she pride’s herself on providing friendly, efficient support no matter how big or small the request. She is known for staying calm under pressure and enjoys finding solutions that make life easier for customers. Hailey holds a BTEC in Customer Care and is a Registered Animal Medicines Advisor (RSQP), allowing her to combine strong customer service with industry knowledge.

Outside of work, life is just as busy with two children, three dogs and horses keeping her on her toes. Whenever she gets the chance, she loves to curl up with a good book, although staying awake long enough to get past the first paragraph can sometimes be a challenge!