Dr. Charles Kuntz DCM, MS, MACVSc, Diplomate ACVS
Southpaws founder and director, Dr. Charles Kuntz, graduated from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in 1990. He did an internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York City and completed a residency and Master’s degree in surgery at Virginia Tech in 1994. He achieved specialty board certification in surgery in 1996 on his first attempt. Charles then did a one year fellowship in cardiovascular research and surgery. He completed a fellowship in surgical oncology at Colorado State University and was then a professor of Orthopedic Surgery there before moving to Northern Virginia where he started one of the busiest surgical referral practices in the Washington DC area. He was the program chair and a member of the Board of Directors of the District of Columbia Academy of Veterinary Medicine.
Charles moved to Australia in 2004 and is the director and owner of Southpaws Specialty Surgery for Animals in Melbourne. He is an internship director, surgical residency advisor and program director for the American College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Charles has published many scientific articles, abstracts, proceedings and book chapters on topics of surgical oncology. He was the chairperson of the oncology section of the National Meeting of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. He is the editor of the oncology section of the current edition of Slatter’s Textbook of Small Animal Surgery. He was the surgical expert on panel discussions of feline vaccine associated soft tissue sarcomas at meetings of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. He was asked to write a chapter for a human surgical oncology textbook on bone cancer because of his reputation and expertise in cancer surgery. At Southpaws Charles started Australia’s first deep radiation therapy unit for animals, one of only two in Australia today.
He has personally performed and interpreted over 5,000 CT scans on small animals. He has five United States patents for devices used in the treatment of diseases in animals. He has personally operated on over 5,000 patients with cancer with local control rates of over 95%. Charles was voted Australia’s Most Supportive Vet of the Year in 2011 by the Master Dog Breeders and Associates (MDBA). He has been seen on “Talk to the Animals”, “Animal ER”, “A Current Affair”, “National Nine News”, “The Today Show”, “The Nine AM Show” as well as numerous appearances on and in national radio, newspapers and magazines. He receives referrals from all over Australia as well as consultations by phone and email world-wide.
Charles received the honour of being accepted as a Founding Fellow in Surgical Oncology by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons for his “Exemplary training, experience and practice in the multidisciplinary approach to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of cancer patients and his devotion to cancer research.” He is one of the first people world-wide to receive this honour.