The veterinarian and owner of North Perth Veterinary Centre was a 21-year-old student at Murdoch University when she met Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal in 2000.

An accomplished equestrian athlete, the Princess toured Murdoch’s School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences as a guest of University and the Australian Veterinary Association.

The visit made local headlines with The West Australian reporting the Princess received a crash course in animal anatomy during her tour of the premises.

AVA Vice President Dr Garth McGilvray said the horse-loving Princess took an interest in the large-animal handling area and a meeting with Kathy Gibson, who would be caring for horses at the Sydney Olympic Games later that year.

“And she was enthralled by specimens of horse hoofs in the anatomy museum shown to her by senior anatomy technician Richard Krumins,” journalist Torrance Mendez wrote. 

“The Princess' visit was capped by a tour of the pathology teaching room where up to 40 students can examine the same specimen microscopically at the same time.”

This is where Dr Hodgen had her Royal encounter.

Seated in the anatomy lab with her friend Lauren Callahan, the pair watched as the Princess walked in with her entourage and made a beeline for them.

“We were told not to speak to her unless we were spoken to, and Lauren and I were just absolutely thrilled because she came straight up to our table and started asking us questions,” she recalled.

“I remember thinking ‘oh my goodness I wish that I spoke like that’, her accent was just beautiful. “She said how much she enjoyed horses and horse riding, and she was very interested in the medical side of things. I felt like she had a real passion for veterinary, and in particular with horses.

It was not the first time the Princess Royal had visited Murdoch, in 1974, with then husband, Captain Mark Phillips, she toured the grounds where Western Australia’s first and only veterinary school was to be built.

Fast forward 25 years and she was keen to see how the school had progressed.

“She mentioned having been here before and she asked us about whether we enjoyed the course,” Dr Hodgen said.

“Of course, we said we loved it, and I have absolutely loved being a vet for as long as I've been doing it, it was certainly the right choice for me. It's a privilege to have this job, really.”

The veterinary program at Murdoch has established a reputation for excellence since the first cohort graduated in 1979.

It had the first practising veterinary teaching and research space in the country and remains the only metropolitan university in Australia to have a working farm on campus.

In 2003 the Murdoch’s vet school became the first in Australia to achieve accreditation from the American Veterinary Medical Association, opening up new career opportunities for graduates through automatic recognition of their degree in the US and Canada. 

“Accreditation with the AVMA is a recognition of excellence at an international level that puts Murdoch at the forefront of veterinary education,” Professor John Bolton, then Dean of Murdoch’s School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, told Australian Vet magazine.

The accreditation process was intense, including interviews with staff, graduates and students, an extensive inspection of the school’s facilities and teaching program, and every aspect of the school scrutinised over a two-year period. 

“We were complimented on the quality and professionalism of our students and the innovative curriculum of the degree, which includes rotations at Perth Zoo and Western Australia Department of Agriculture,” Professor Bolton said. “The board was also impressed with Murdoch’s world-class facilities including the campus farm at the fingertips of students.”

Today, Murdoch offers a five-year veterinary degree program, comprising an integrated Bachelor of Science (Veterinary Biology) and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, providing opportunities to combine hands-on clinical training, veterinary professional life skills, research experience, and species-group electives across the latter years of the degree.

Murdoch’s veterinary degree is fully accredited by the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in the UK, and the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education.

The school also runs community outreach clinics in remote Western Australia, has a world-class research program, and the Centre for Advanced Veterinary Education provides continuing education programs to veterinary practitioners and Pet First Aid workshops for the general public.