The Doctors Tauranga

My name is Arnau, and I’m excited to join the team at The Doctors Tauranga as a general practitioner. Born in Barcelona, Spain, I have been practicing medicine since 2016, including time in both Barcelona and Paris. I bring with me a deep passion for family and community medicine and a patient-centered approach to care. 

I recently relocated to Tauranga to embrace its beautiful surroundings and found a vibrant community that I’m thrilled to be a part of. When I’m not at the clinic, I enjoy cooking, playing music and rock climbing. 

My goal is to provide compassionate and personalized care, and I look forward to meeting you and to provide my counsel and help to help you achieve and maintain your health and well-being.

 

Birgit is an Austrian trained doctor, GP consultant since 2023 and a licensed Emergency Medic since 2022.

From 2022 until 2024 she was working in the Emergency room (University Hospital in Linz) and was holding lectures on clinical examinations for medical students as well as practising in a rural GP clinic.

She's a big believer that there's no "one size fits all" approach in medicine and patients have different needs which need to be adressed together.

"Medicine is about healing the body, heart and soul." - is her mantra.

Since she loves the outdoors (has had training in the jungles of Costa Rica and the bush in Namibia) and adventures (diving, canyoning, hiking..) she got lured into coming to our beautiful Aotearoa, where she could satisfy her cravings for these things.

Kia Ora, My name is Catherine and I have worked for The Doctors for almost ten years as a practice nurse and diabetes nurse specialist. However after seven long years of study through the University of Auckland I have completed my Master of Nursing and am now a Registered Nurse Practitioner. This allows me to work within a more advanced scope of practice whereby I can diagnose, prescribe, and order diagnostic tests for both simple and complex conditions. I have a special interest in working alongside people with long term conditions however I enjoy working within all aspects of General Practice. In my free time I run a lifestyle block and enjoy watersports, hiking and having fun!

Kia ora, My name is Rob Carr and I hail from the Hokianga in Northland. I have recently moved to the Bay from Whangarei with my partner and our 2 young children. I graduated from the University of Auckland in 2018 and am working towards my fellowship as a General Practitioner.

I am interested in all aspects of general practice and all ages and stages.

In my spare time, I am currently engaged in multiple toddler oriented activities. I am proficient with dinosaurs, the Wiggles, Paw Patrol, Lego and Moana. I am also an avid collector of music and houseplants.

I look forward to getting to know you all!

Megan Brebner is a familiar face to our patients and now she has a new qualification. Megan has worked with us at The Doctors Tauranga for 10 years and has been a nurse for 30 years. In 2017 Megan qualified at the highest level of the nursing profession and is excited to be our first ever Nurse Practitioner!

Nurse Practitioners are advanced nurses who have studied and qualified to enhance their knowledge and skills in patient care. They can prescribe medications and order diagnostic tests including blood tests, x-rays and ultrasound. Megan has booked appointments and works alongside a GP in our walk-in clinic for 2 sessions a week. Megan is also Nurse Leader of the Careplus programme supporting people with long term conditions e.g. diabetes, heart disease, renal and respiratory conditions and continues in her role as a Diabetes Nurse Specialist.

Megan was inspired to upskill from a desire to do more for her patients. She has completed a Masters in Nursing and has worked alongside Dr Séan Barklie as her mentor and clinical supervisor - “Séan has been a great mentor to me”.

As a Nurse Practitioner Megan has appointments that allow patients to learn more about improving their health and managing their medical conditions.

Dipankar ‘Dip’ Saha is a UK trained GP.  Having first qualified from The Royal Free and University College Medical School in London in 2003,  he then spent several years undergoing Basic Surgical Training in the North of England as he initially wanted to be a surgeon. However, over time he came to realise that his true calling was not surgery but instead General Practice and being a family physician.  He entered GP training in the UK in 2008 and qualified as a GP in 2011, and in his own words “he hasn’t looked back since”.  Dipankar imigrated to New Zealand in mid 2015 with his Kiwi wife and beautiful baby daughter.  He joined the team at Centralmed in early 2016 as a full time GP.  Dipankar believes that his previous surgical background combined with his GP training makes him a truly general General Practioner with a broad knowledge base in both medicine and surgery.  Whilst thoroughly professional but also completely approachable in equal measure, as well as being happy to discuss his patients’ problems, conditions and diagnosis with them at depth (being a great believer in improving health through improving individual patients’ health education and knowledge of their conditions), he is also equally happy to discuss the finer points of blues/rock guitar playing, Formula One racing, the lastest John Grisham novel or just why in his opinion the HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy is the greatest book ever written.                       

Bhuwan joined CentralMed in 2014 from Gisborne where he had been practicing for the last 3 years. Bhuwan is vocationally Registered with the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

David has been practising as a Family General Practitioner in Tauranga since 1984. His interests outside of family practice include running a small farm and a wide variety of sports and outdoor activities golf, motor sport and following family sporting and other endeavours. His biggest achievement so far, apart from family, is being involved in the establishment of Aquinas College in Pyes Pa, and the development of Centralmed Health. Medical interests include internal medicine and immigration medicals.

Peter has been working as a General Practitioner in the Bay of Plenty since the mid 1980’s. Having previously been a solo GP for many years, he has been part of the team at CentralMed since September 2012 which he has found to be a new and challenging experience. He finds the “one stop shop” set-up at CentralMed with services such as x-ray and Pathlab all on site, very helpful in providing timely and effective patient care. He cannot lay claim to any particular sporting prowess, however he is keen on the arts in general along with having a go at growing the occasional avocado.

Séan trained in Zoology Botany, Oceanography and having worked on the ocean decided to return to the University of Capetown to study medicine. He was born and bred in Zimbabwe. He was conscripted into the army there which in the end assisted him in immigrating to New Zealand and being employed by the NZ Defence Force for a few years. He coached the NZ Army rugby team in Waiouru and travelled extensively within New Zealand before settling in Tauranga.

He has worked in the past in the UK, Canada and South Africa but is now firmly settled in New Zealand. His current interests are sports medicine which included Team Doctor for provincial rugby team, sleep medicine and skin surgery but also thoroughly enjoys being a General Practitioner and has not given up any aspects of family medicine. Sean’s interests are broad and varied and he would love to share those with any new patients.