Elaine’s brother Larry Laikind became a dentist, later becoming blind with a rare mitochondrial deficient genetic condition called LHON (Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy that Elaine also carries but has managed to stave off using nutritional therapies). He then retrained through QUT and completed a law degree, graduating with many University Medals and Dux of his year. He also obtained a scholarship to study a Masters in Oxford, and is currently finishing his PhD in Law. 

Elaine’s early years were spent in Hawaii and then at secondary school in Miami High school on the Gold Coast. Elaine always loved medicine and animals and it was natural for her to want to become a vet. Luckily, she did well in her high school, so this meant she was accepted into the veterinary course at Queensland Veterinary School. She found the course relatively easy except for the early morning starts, compared with her friends studying arts but she persevered.

Realizing she needed more practical experience, Elaine applied for and was accepted as an intern in a veterinary hospital in the last two years of her course and did the practice’s after-hours care and medications. She stated that she experienced no or little discrimination in her studies. Some lecturers were sexist ‘but you get that in many courses!’

She always felt inept at large animal work. This was possibly because she didn’t have enough practice and did not grow up on a farm with large animals. She found that a lot of the course contained irrelevant material and the students spent little time on essentials such as dermatology and dentistry, which make up a good 60% of small animal practice. These things were not well covered. Other areas now of interest to her were never taught, such as holistic modalities, behavior medicine, nutritional medicine and herbal medicine.

A highlight for Elaine, as an undergraduate, was scuba diving on weekends with the Dive Club at the University of Queensland. She graduated in 1981 and then spent time specializing in dentistry of all species but mainly dogs and cats, although she has also worked with horses and other species.

Elaine runs a Veterinary Integrative Care Clinic and Advanced Veterinary Dentistry Clinic at the Greenslopes Shopping Mall in Brisbane.  Dental work is a large part of their practice where 80% of animals seen have periodontal disease; she does some fracture repair work, some root canals, fillings, and a small percent of orthodontics. They see quite a few referrals and are asked for second and third opinions routinely.

Elaine and like-minded colleagues helped develop the holistic (now Integrative) special interest veterinary group. Integrative Veterinarians Australia (IVA) aims to foster the use of holistic therapies by veterinary surgeons in a caring and professional manner to benefit the health of animals. Elaine produced a pet remedial massage course and runs this annually.

Elaine has fought a battle to retain the Integrative Veterinarians special interest group as part of the AVA and is continually frustrated by sceptics in the veterinary profession ‘who know bugger-all” about the modalities (e.g. acupuncture, remedial massage, herbal medicine) that the Integrative veterinarians have spent years studying.  She would dearly like non-believers to hear about the success of some of the Integrative methods that are followed by quite a few veterinarians and feels that the Australian Veterinary Association Annual Conference should allow time for other special interest groups to attend and be open to learning from Integrative vets. Perhaps the area should be the subject of a plenary session.

Elaine’s other interests are naturopathy, herbal medicine, essential oils, nutritional medicine, remedial massage and acupuncture. In addition, Elaine has a core of human patients who seek her advice, which is why she became qualified as a Naturopath, Herbalist and Nutritionist for people. Her human clients are seen at a nearby Holistic practice a block away from her vet clinic at Morkare.

Elaine has had cancers, facial Basal Cell Carcinoma, Cervical, and Ovarian, and attributes their regression and cure with currently negative cancer markers in the blood to the holistic medicine she practices.   She teaches the principle that Integrative therapies, including nutritional care, are the basis of health and require some vigilance, as carcinogenic toxins are almost unavoidable in today’s environment.

Her hobbies include third world travels and volunteering.   Elaine, together with Catherine Schuetze, started Vets Beyond Borders several years ago in India and has been involved with the Bali Street dog program and de-sexing clinics and teaching small animal dentistry to local vets wherever she travels. She has taught at the Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre in New Delhi, Udayana University in Bali, and in Sri Lanka. She has been invited as a teaching assistant to the Chi Institute of Acupuncture and will help deliver the very first Indonesian Veterinary group of Acupuncture studies in July, 2016.

Elaine has sponsored the education of several students, including two fine young men in Indonesia, one of whom has graduated with an honours degree in Physics and is now a teacher; Elaine and a friend are helping him set up a community library in Nusa Penida, an island near Bali. Elaine has written and published a book on grief for children called Sam’s Shadow and another book called The Bali Starling that Could. She plans a reprint of these plus The Little Red Hen and The Three Little Pigs in Nusa Penida. She has published a few hundred children's books in Indonesia to kick this project off, and Elaine and her family are looking at purchased a scooter with carriers so the library can be mobile.

Her other ‘sponsored’ son, Kadek, graduated as a veterinarian last year and is working on the same island. Provet kindly donated hundreds of dollars of supplies for Kadek's veterinary work and Elaine purchased a couple of spay kits to assist his surgical cases. The little island has started to become a tourist destination, and there are now two dive shops there. Elaine was fortunate to dive with the Mola mola, or sunfish, on her last trip over. According to Elaine, this huge fish has the teensiest mouth for its body, and looks a bit like a cartoon character!

Elaine’s physical pursuits include stand-up paddle boarding and surfing with her dog as well as scuba diving. 

Elaine is married to Bryan Cebuliak, a general practitioner and they have two grown up children: Ben, a Town Planner recently married, while daughter Zoe is pursuing a career in the circus as a stilt walker.

Pets are Miggles, a Border Collie and Dan Kat, their Tuxedo cat.

Acknowledgements

Written in conjunction with Elaine Cebuliak