8 Apr 2025
From struggling through vet school to leading Vets Now as medical director, Mandisa Greene tells her story of how she battled for her desired career.
Vet Times
Job Title
With exam resits and repeated years, life at vet school was a constant challenge for Mandisa Greene.
When it came to a final make or break point, it seemed a life outside veterinary medicine may have to become a possibility.
In reality, there was no plan B and, through talent and determination, she finally left the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh in 2008 with the degree for which she had battled so hard. That same drive and dogged will to succeed has subsequently seen her rise through the veterinary ranks to become medical director at leading pet emergency provider Vets Now.
She has also been a powerful force within the wider profession, with prestigious roles including president of the RCVS. And she has now been awarded the Diploma of Fellowship to the RCVS on the basis of leadership both in veterinary politics and in diversity.
But her passion for inspiring others – especially those facing the challenges she fought so hard to overcome – remains undimmed.
“The fellowship is an incredible honour and it’s one I could never have imagined for a moment,” said Mandisa, who has combined her high-flying professional life with being a hands-on mum of two young boys.
“Vet school was incredibly difficult. There were so many exam re-sits and having to repeat, and it felt like my goal was being pulled further and further away.
“You must develop a steadfast belief in yourself and an unparalleled level of resilience, but there were definitely dark moments. I remember preparing to re-sit in my final year knowing that if I didn’t pass it would all have been for nothing.
“I had given everything and there was almost a moment of surrender, but I felt like I was good enough and better than what was being reflected in my scores.”
Having had so many struggles, Mandisa was determined to make the absolute most of her career, to enjoy it and encourage others.
After first opinion and out-of-hours (OOH) experience, locum work, including with Vets Now, enhanced her love of OOH and ECC medicine.
“In OOH and ECC you have to challenge yourself.
“Having taken so long to get through vet school, I wanted to learn faster and progress more quickly. I was always good practically and I didn’t want to waste any more time.”
The shifts she did within Vets Now also brought an appreciation of the company ethos and a huge admiration of the abilities of the experienced nursing staff who were always on hand to help.
Since she took up her medical director role in early 2022, part of her focus has been on increasingly making use of their talents and further championing the opportunities already available.
“I wanted to ensure our nurses could have the ability to use their skills to the maximum potential,” said Mandisa.
“I felt the veterinary profession hadn’t fully allowed that to happen and that has been a real goal within Vets Now.
“Having done a variety of locum work, I could see that our nurses stood out. They’re highly experienced, can take control of a situation and triage so capably in an emergency.
“They function in a multi-disciplinary team at such a high level, I just hadn’t experienced elsewhere.
“I also wanted the superb clinically led side of the business to be the golden thread in everything we did, creating a consistent yet contextualised experience for every patient.
“Those were just a couple of the goals I came in with, but I have so many more.
“We provide an excellent experience for our patients and clients, and I think the future lies with further refining that experience.
“I also see preventive health care growing in importance for pet owners, not just vaccinations but pets having more regular visits to their vet. Genuine accidents aside, many conditions we see at Vets Now have worsened in ways that might have been prevented had they presented to their daytime vet sooner.”
Having had her first son a couple of years after graduating, with her second arriving just a couple of years later, there has always been the very familiar juggling of home and professional lives.
She and husband Hector, a mental health professional, moved closer to her family to help with childcare, but although the boys are now 14 and 12, work-life balance continues.
“It’s a partnership, and it requires sacrifices from both of us. It takes great planning, organisation and that support from the wider family network.
“There is no perfection and there are things I don’t always get to be part of when I’m working
“So, there are things I’ve missed, and all you can do is try your best to strike the right balance.”
In addition to lecturing at Harper Adams University, Mandisa had a career at the RCVS from 2014, serving on several committees, becoming junior vice-president in 2019 and then president until 2021.
Achievements she helped oversee included the historic agreement for vet nurses to become Practice Standards Scheme assessors, and she was part of the committee looking at legislative reforms of the Veterinary Surgeons Act.
