Dr Wei-Yeen Yap

Wei-Yeen (pronounced “way in“) graduated in 2005 from Murdoch University (WA) her home state, receiving a first class honours research degree in molecular genetics and awards in veterinary anaesthesia. A practicing veterinarian for over 15 years, alongside a career focused on applied conservation sciences, Wei has worked as a veterinary clinician and surgeon in teaching hospitals, 24-hour emergency hospitals, not-for-profit shelters, wildlife centres, governments, universities and mixed large and small animal on-call country practice both in Australia and abroad.  In addition, she has pursued a Masters degree in Veterinary Conservation Medicine and a PhD in Applied Conservation Ecology.

Her work advocating for environmental, social and animal issues has lead her to some of the most beautiful and remote regions on the planet, which is how she came to call Tasmania home. She loves living on Oyster Bay country with her American Bulldog, globe-trotting cat and endlessly intelligent, stubborn tribe of Muscovy ducks.

Wei’s frustrations as a veterinarian and researcher were centred around the lack of problem solving and effective treatment at a holistic (considering the entirety of and interconnectedness of variables in complex scenarios) level. It took her own personal experiences recovering from complex post traumatic stress disorder to realise that a Western linear reductionist approach to health & sciences (of which she had grown up holding to the highest regard) often had severe limitations when grappling with complicated scenarios. 

In 2014 Wei returned to Tasmania after working on the preservation of the pygmy hippo in the rainforests of Cote d’Ivoire, determined to merge Eastern and Western paradigms. Her journey into integrative medicine was fortified through obtaining her graduate diploma studying the ancient (over 3,000 years of continually evolving medicine!) system of Veterinary Chinese Herbal Medicine and Fifth Element Holistic Veterinary Services was the result of combining her Western veterinary expertise alongside this complex medical discipline.

Wei is extremely proud and humbled to be one of a handful of Australian veterinarians with this certification, offering safe, knowledgable access to Veterinary Chinese herbal medicine.

It is her deepest desire to empower people to take back control of not only their animal’s health, but in doing so their homes, backyards, communities and local ecosystems.

Wei invites you to join her on this journey.