Ivan became an RCVS Specialist in Small Animal Soft Tissue Surgery in 2010. He has since worked in surgical referral centres in France and the UK and spent six years as a senior staff surgeon at Bristol University before joining the surgery team at Highcroft in September 2017.

He, along with colleague Ed Friend, were the first veterinary surgeons in the UK to treat intrahepatic portosystemic shunts using interventional radiological techniques. He has been an examiner for the RCVS Diploma (Specialist) examinations in soft tissue surgery.