About

Our mission: Supporting the community to improve their wellbeing by empowering people to take control of their health.  To provide accessibility to the most advanced and minimally invasive techniques.  The Specialist Vein Health team will provide excellent service at the highest level for all our patients. 

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JK Wicks

MBChB (Otago), FRACS (General Surgery), FRACS (Vascular).

Wellington Clinic

Dr Wicks grew up in Wellington.  His parents moved to New Zealand from Sri Lanka.  His father was a GP in Lower Hutt for 40 years.  Education was an important priority in the Wicks household and both Dr Wicks’ brothers are also surgeons in Wellington.  Dr Wicks graduated from the University of Otago, following this he worked as a house surgeon in Wellington and Auckland.  Dr Wicks then pursued a fellowship in General Surgery followed by a fellowship in Vascular Surgery.  The training for both fellowships took him all around New Zealand and Australia. Dr Wicks is currently the President of the Vascular Society of New Zealand (VSNZ) and a member of the executive of the Australia and New Zealand Society of Vascular Surgery (ANZSVS). He is a Clinical Senior Lecturer, Department of Surgery & Anaesthesia, University of Otago, Wellington and from January 2020 he is the Capital and Coast District Health Board’s Vascular Clinical Leader. 

Dr Wicks is a busy husband and father and enjoys spending time with his family, playing sports and the piano.

Lupe Taumoepeau

MBChB (Auckland) , FRACS (Vascular).

Wellington Clinic

Dr Lupe was born and raised in Auckland. Her parents moved from Tonga in the 1960s and placed a high priority on their children obtaining a quality education. This laid the foundation for a career in medicine, and Dr Lupe followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, choosing surgery as a career. Dr Lupe and her younger sister are doctors. Dr Lupe studied medicine at Auckland’s medical school.  Dr Lupe is the only female Vascular & Endovascular surgeon in New Zealand and the only Polynesian Vascular surgeon in the whole of Australasia.  Dr Lupe was a house surgeon throughout hospitals in Auckland followed by Vascular Surgery training which took her throughout  New Zealand and Australia. Dr Lupe is a Board Member of the Pasifika Medical Association; Clinical Senior Lecturer, Department of Surgery & Anaesthesia, University of Otago, Wellington and Provocational Educational Supervisory for the Medical Council of New Zealand. She is also a Mentor for Wāhine Connect, a national mentoring programme to support women in the New Zealand health sector. 

Dr Lupe maintains a balanced life as a married mother of one, by spending time in the great outdoors with her friends and family.

Laurence Walker

Affiliate Vein Specialist/Intensivist – BSc 1995 (Otago), MBChB (Otago), FCICM 2012

Wellington/Nelson Clinic

Laurence was born and raised in Wellington and graduated in Medicine from the University of Otago. He spent time working and training in Australia and the UK before returning to Wellington to complete his core speciality training in Intensive Care Medicine.

Laurence has a special interest in vascular ultrasound and developed an interest in vein medicine in 2012. He is an Affiliate Fellow of the Australasian College of Phlebology and a member of the New Zealand Society of Procedural Phlebology.

Outside of work, Laurence is usually found in the outdoors around Wellington and the South Island.

Rhys Thomas 

MBChB (UWCM), FACEM, BSc (Hons)

Auckland Clinic

Dr Thomas grew up in Wales and graduated from the University of Wales College of Medicine with a commendation in 2008. 

After completing basic medical training in Wales in Wales, Dr Thomas moved to New Zealand in 2012 and started training in Emergency medicine.   Dr Thomas became a Fellow of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine in 2019 and has worked as an Emergency Medicine Specialist within Auckland DHBs since then. 

Dr Thomas’ interest in varicose vein procedures comes from his enjoyment of ultrasound-based procedures, which are a regular part of his Emergency Department role. 

Dr Thomas has trained under vascular specialists to gain his phlebology qualification. 

Outside of his work, Dr Thomas maintains a balanced life as a busy husband and father to a young family, playing sports and enjoying outdoor pursuits such as ocean swimming and mountaineering. 

Shueh Lim   

MBChB, FRCR, CCT(UK), RANZCR (Education Affiliate), EBIR.

 Dr Lim qualified in medicine in 2011 from Scotland and completed his radiology and interventional radiology training in Edinburgh, Scotland.  He undertook his post graduate interventional radiology clinical fellowships in both Edinburgh and Auckland. Dr Lim has published and presented in various international meetings. He has also done multiple visiting observerships to leading IR centers across Europe and US.  He was a committee member on the British Society of Interventional Radiology trainee group and a clinical associate with the University of Edinburgh   He is currently working in Wellington Hospital as an interventional radiologist. His main interest is in complex peripheral vascular intervention for critical limb ischaemia and deep venous disease which he works closely with the vascular surgeons on and also oncologic intervention such as chemoembolization and tumour ablations.

He has introduced cryoablation for treatment of renal tumours, endovascular arterectomy, intravascular lithotripsy, intravascular ultrasound and lytic free venous thrombectomy since joining the public hospital.

Dr Lim is a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiology UK, Education Affiliate of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, and a member of European Board of Interventional Radiologist. He is medically registered in both UK and New Zealand. He is multilingual and speaks Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai and English. He enjoys travelling during his free time.

Meet our Wellington-based Surgeons

Dr Lupe and Dr Wicks work at Capital & Coast DHB – Wellington Public Hospital as consultant Vascular Surgeons. They are the founding directors of SVH and pleased to offer their services both in greater Wellington, Kapiti, Palmerston North and Nelson.  Both Dr Wicks and Dr Lupe have had dual training in endovascular and open techniques.  As Vascular Surgeons they diagnose and treat all blood vessel problems from stroke prevention surgery, aneurysms (dilated arteries) and blocked peripheral arteries to varicose veins.  As Vascular Surgeons they are trained and qualified in vascular ultrasound scanning, the primary cornerstone of diagnosis and planning treatment(s) for Vascular conditions.   Dr Wicks is a senior lecturer at the Otago Medical School and he and Dr Lupe do independent research.  Both frequently attend and speak at national and international conferences.