23 October 2025
By James Mullan
The husband-and-wife veterinary team behind Pet Medical Milsons Point, Dr Eugene Ong and Dr Jo-Ann Chan, are set to open a second practice in Crows Nest under the name Vets on Falcon. The new site will mirror their Milsons Point clinic’s focus on high-quality animal care and patient experience.
Both Ong and Chan were born in Singapore and trained as veterinarians in Melbourne, where they first met. Chan said her decision to study veterinary science stemmed from a practical interest in career options. “For me going through school, I was looking for something where I was interested in the pathway, the career that was available,” she said. With no veterinary schools in Singapore at the time, she chose to study in Australia.
Ong said his inspiration was more personal. “I was seven. I got my first dog, and I thought that if I became a vet she would never die,” he recalled. “It was a little boy’s dream, but the core desire remained.”
After graduating, Chan worked in Singapore for three years while Ong briefly practised in the United States before joining her there. The pair returned to Australia in 2014 and settled in Melbourne, where Chan worked at a lost dogs’ home and Ong undertook an internship in emergency and critical care followed by an MBA.
In 2017 Ong joined Johnson & Johnson in a marketing role—a move that, he said, later shaped his customer-centric approach to veterinary practice. “For the longest time, veterinary hospitals probably never focused as much on customer experience,” he noted. “It’s something I’ve picked up a lot on.”
By 2021 Chan was working at Pet Medical Milsons Point. Two years later, as the couple prepared to relocate back to Melbourne, an opportunity arose to buy the clinic from its previous owner. They completed the purchase in March 2023.
“The hospital was a fairly standard veterinary hospital—vaccinations, simple procedures—but the harder procedures were always sent off somewhere else,” Ong said. Since taking over, they have upgraded equipment, introduced digital X-rays and ultrasound, and expanded nursing capabilities. The clinic has also achieved both Low Stress Handling and Fear-Free certification. “It means there’s a commitment from staff and systems alike to ensure pets get low-stress care. There’s no rough handling,” Ong added.
Their next step is opening Vets on Falcon in Crows Nest. Ong said the choice of location was driven by convenience for clients and the area’s growth. “Milsons Point is a little bit out of the way for some people. We’ve got a lot of pet owners in the Crows Nest, Waverton and Wollstonecraft area,” he said. “Crows Nest is growing—it’s a new metro hub—and it allows us to expand the kind of care we want to offer.”
The new clinic will provide full-service veterinary care, including upgraded facilities such as custom-built cages with in-built heating for animal comfort. Chan is also undertaking further training in animal rehabilitation, and the practice plans to introduce advanced procedures including video endoscopy. “We always aspire to provide the best,” Ong said. “If that means we’ve got to train or invest in more equipment, that’s what we do.”
Both vets plan to divide their time between the two clinics to maintain consistency of care. “Realistically, I don’t think anyone cares more about the hospital than us,” Ong said. Their focus, he added, remains on prioritising patients over profits as they expand their business.
Vet on Falcon is expected to be open by December 2025.