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About Our Staff
The Animal Emergency Center is staffed 24-hours a day, seven-days a week with highly trained, board certified and specialized veterinarians, nurses and technicians. Our team of over 65 includes:
- Board certified specialists in emergency and critical care.
- Board certified surgeons experienced in emergency medicine.
- Board certified internal medicine specialist experienced in emergency medicine.
- Board certified specialist in veterinary medical oncology.
- Board certified specialist in avian medicine and residency trained in small mammals and reptiles.
- Board certified emergency and critical care nurses.
- Staff members are trained specifically to handle exotic animals.
- AEC staff leads the way in
the field of small animal critical care and often deliver lectures,
present papers and publish books and articles for the veterinary profession.
Board Certified Specialist
Rebecca Kirby, DVM, DACVIM, DACVECC
Executive Director
Director of Education
Dr. Rebecca Kirby grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and graduated from the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine. She is one of the pioneers in small animal emergency and critical care medicine, and sole owner of the Animal Emergency Center. She was formerly Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of Emergency Services at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. She heads the medical training at the Center as well as the overall organization of the educational programs. She has lectured in over 24 countries and has won recognition as Speaker of the Year at the North American Veterinary Conference.Her articles, textbooks, and clinical research have advanced the veterinary profession as well as inspired many young students to pursue emergency and critical care as their chosen career. She started the first residency-training program in the world in emergency and critical care, and has trained more than 20 residents in the specialty. She was honored to present a "State of the Art" lecture at the 2000 World Small Animal Veterinary Association Congress in Amsterdam. She is a board-certified specialist in both small animal internal medicine and emergency and critical care medicine.
Click here to learn more about the Emergency and Critical Care Service
Elke Rudloff, DVM, DACVECC
Dr. Elke Rudloff grew up internationally and graduated from Purdue Veterinary School in 1991. She completed an Internship and Residency at the Animal Emergency Center in 1994 prior to obtaining her board certification in emergency and critical care medicine. She supervises and organizes doctors in their day-to-day responsibilities as well as academic work. Dr. Rudloff served on the Board of the Milwaukee Veterinary Medical Association 1996-1999.
She is the Scientific Program Chair for the International Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society, as well as a Regent and member of the scientific program committee of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care. She enjoys lecturing nationally and internationally to veterinarians, students and veterinary nurses. Dr. Rudloff teaches first aid and CPR to pet owners, veterinary staff, and dog handlers of the city, county and state police. Her special interests include fluid therapy and trauma management, subjects on which she has published.
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Dana S. King, DVM, DACVS
Dr. King graduated from Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine in 1995 and completed a surgical residency at the University of Pennsylvania. She is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and received the Best Clinical Publication Award in 2001. Dr. King began her career as a large animal surgeon at the University of Wisconsin but now limits her practice to small animal patients. She has trained with specialists in small animal surgical oncology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, and general surgery, and has strong interests in minimally invasive surgery and pain management.
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Dale Joseph Kressin DVM, FAVD, DAVDC
Dr. Kressin is a High School graduate of Nathan Hale High School of West Allis, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin- River Falls and majored in Food Science and Nutrition. He subsequently graduated from the University Of Minnesota College Of Veterinary Medicine. He has been in private veterinary practice in Oshkosh, Wisconsin since 1983. Dr. Kressin is the first member of the International Academy of Veterinary Dentistry in Wisconsin. He is board certified in Veterinary Dentistry and a member of the American Veterinary Dental College.
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Dr. Rachel Reiman DVM, DACVIM
Dr. Reiman grew up in Nebraska and received her veterinary degree from Kansas State University. She completed a rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Garden State Veterinary Specialists in New Jersey. She has dedicated her career to medical oncology, and finished her medical oncology residency at Louisiana State University in 2005. She achieved board certification in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine - Medical Oncology - in 2006. Dr. Reiman enjoys all aspects of oncology, with a special interest in feline oncology and pain management in the cancer patient. She values the bond between the owner and pet with cancer, and is known for providing state of the art cancer therapy with compassion and concern. In her free time she enjoys reading, camping, fishing, and running.
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Paul M. Gibbons DVM, MS, DABVP
Dr. Paul Gibbons grew up in Edwardsville, Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree from St. Louis University before attending University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. He graduated in 1994 and then practiced in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois before pursuing advanced training. At University of California-Davis he completed a residency in avian, reptile, and exotic mammal medicine followed by a master's degree in comparative pathology. During his veterinary career he has worked with cattle, horses, sheep, llamas, goats, pigs, dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents, pet birds, ratites, raptors, waterfowl, snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, toads, newts, fish, invertebrates, and other exotic species. He has shared his home with dogs, rabbits, mice, conures, parrots, finches, emus, frogs, snakes, lizards, fish, arthropods, and mollusks.
He currently serves as chairperson of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners Organizing Committee for Certification in Reptile and Amphibian Practice. He is an associate editor for the Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery and an active member of the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians. He has published numerous articles and presented many lectures on the husbandry, medicine, and surgery of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and exotic mammals. He is the only board certified avian veterinarian in Wisconsin and the surrounding region.
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Practice Limited to Emergency and Critical Care
Dr. Andrew Linklater
Dr. Linklater grew up in Canada. He graduated from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 2002. Following veterinary school, Dr. Linklater completed an internship at the Animal Specialty Group in Los Angeles and a clinical residency in veterinary emergency and critical care at the Animal Emergency Center. He has joined the staff of veterinary specialists at the Animal Emergency Center, where is practice is limited to small animal emergency and critical care. Dr. Linklater consults with staff doctors regarding case management and performs advanced procedures such as abdominal ultrasounds, echocardiography, endoscopy/bronchoscopy, and emergency surgeries. In addition, he is part of the staff of clinical teachers, providing lectures and instruction to house doctors and visiting veterinary students, nurses, and veterinarians. Dr. Linklater's professional interests include trauma, surgical emergencies and mechanical ventilation. His personal interests include reading, cycling, camping and walking his dogs.
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Emergency Critical Care Staff Veternarians
Jennifer Klaus DVM
Dr. Klaus spent most of her youth in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. After two years of pre-veterinary medicine at the University of Alberta, she completed her veterinary degree in 2004 at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She gained an interest in emergency medicine while working at Edmonton Veterinary Emergency Clinic over two summers, and joined the Animal Emergency Center. Her ultimate goal is to become a specialist in Emergency and Critical Care Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Klaus also enjoys working with exotic animals, and lives with a rapidly growing 4-foot iguana, "Dante". Out of the clinic, Dr. Klaus enjoys running, working-out, traveling and painting. She spent two months touring Africa in the summer of 2000 and plans on exploring more of the world as time permits.
Julio Toro-Burquete DVM
Dr. Julio Toro-Burquete graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He completed a small animal emergency and critical care internship at the Western Nevada Veterinary Specialists, as well as a small animal medicine and surgery internship at the University of Missouri. His area of interest is trauma. He enjoys good music, playing the guitar and outdoor sports.
Mauria O'Brien DVM
Dr. O'Brien graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Veterinary Medicine in 1996. She has worked in both emergency and general practice since that time. Her desire to specialize in emergency medicine was delayed by the birth of her two daughters. She enjoys gardening, cooking, kayaking, and hiking. She shares her house with her husband, children, four dogs, and three cats.
Tiffany Green DVM
Dr. Green grew up in San Juan Capistrano, California. She attended Kansas State University for both her undergraduate and veterinary training; she graduated in 2001. After graduation she worked on a PhD in infectious disease for 9 months. Realizing that her true interests were in the clinical practice of medicine, she accepted an offer as a clinician in Texas. She has spent the past 3+ years at VCA Beltline East Animal Hospital in Sunnyvale, Texas. This experienced offered her significant exposure to emergency and critical patients and she developed her true love for this aspect of medicine and surgery. Her special interest within emergency and critical care is pulmonary disease. Her favorite past times are water and snow skiing, boating, music (she was the principal Harpist for Kansas State Orchestra) , traveling (she has spent 3 months in Bulgaria, 6 weeks in Brazil, multiple cities in Eastern and Western Europe, multiple cities/countries in the Caribbean), and last but not least time with her Family which includes her husband, 3 dogs and 4 cats.
Jessica Beymer DVM
Dr. Beymer was born and raised in the Berkeley, California and is a 2004 graduate of the University of California- Davis Veterinary School. . Her fascination with Emergency and Critical Care Medicine started during her undergraduate years while working as an assistant in the Small Animal Intensive Care Unit at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. She was a Registered Veterinary Technician for 8 year before pursuing her veterinary degree. She completed an Internship at San Francisco Veterinary Specialists and spent another year in private practice in San Francisco and Sacramento, CA. Her particular areas of interest are therapeutic ventilation and transfusion medicine. In her spare time, Dr. Beymer gardens, relaxes with yoga and long walks, and attempts home improvement projects. She receives endless love and support from her husband Carlos, also a Veterinarian, Lulu and Belle, 2 energetic and affectionate Dachshunds, and Simon the Siamese.
Connie Wehausen DVM
Dr. Connie Wehausen grew up in Minnesota and Wisconsin, with most of her family living in the Milwaukee area. She earned both her undergraduate and veterinary degrees from the University of Minnesota. Prior to veterinary school, she worked as a veterinary assistant, working with large, small and laboratory animals. She developed her love for emergency and critical care medicine during her 8 years as an emergency veterinary assistant. She came to the Animal Emergency Center following an internship at the very busy Animal Medical Center in New York. Her areas of special interest include ventilator therapy and endocrine emergencies. She has two loving but opinionated cats- Wendell and Leo. She enjoys hiking, kayaking, camping and reading.
Katherine Peterson DVM
Dr. Peterson completed her undergraduate training and received her DVM at the University of Minnesota (UMN). She developed an interest in emergency/critical care medicine after working at the emergency triage desk at the UMN veterinary teaching hospital prior to and during veterinary school. She recalls that she had great emergency doctor mentors to look up to and motivate her career. She met her husband in veterinary school, and he is currently doing an internship at The Ohio State University in small animal medicine/surgery. They share custody of their 6 pets (4 cats Winston, Francis, Wombat, and Matilda; 2 dogs Andy and Fletcher). In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, traveling, and scuba diving.
Angela Engholdt DVM
Dr. Engholdt was born and raised in Minnesota, but has been living in the Madison area for the past six years. She is a 2007 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. Her interests in animals started at an early age, growing up on a farm and exposed to all species of animals. During veterinary school she worked as a Veterinary Assistant in a small private veterinary practice. She currently owns two "cool cats", Webster and Apache, as well as an animated Boston Terrier named Cosmo. In her spare time she enjoys running, the outdoors, and reading.
Tracy Hardin DVM
Dr. Tracy Hardin graduated from the University College Dublin, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 2003. She did a general internship at the Southern California Veterinary Referral Group, in Irvine, CA, followed by a specialized internship in neurology at the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Red Bank, Jersey. For the last 2 years, she has practiced as an emergency doctor in Florida, and Cape Cod, MA. She has been a competitive rower since she was 14, and enjoys travel and music.
Jason Doolittle DVM
Dr. Jason Doolittle was raised in California, spending time in Minnesota and the Caribbean before joining the team at AEC. Dr. Doolittle attended Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts in the West Indies and completed his clinical training at the University of Minnesota School of Veterinary Medicine. After graduation he worked for 2 years in a small animal practice in the eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and as a relief veterinarian at two emergency clinics. He is married with two "kids" (as he calls them) - their cats, Ting and Murphy. Dr. Doolittle's interests in emergency and critical care currently center around fluid resuscitation and hemodynamic emergencies.
Rebekah Franklin DVM
Dr. Rebekah Franklin is from Austin, MN, and grew up with golden retrievers, fish, a guinea pig and a rat named Fluffy. Her undergraduate degree is in Science in Agriculture, with an emphasis in Animal Science. Twenty-five years after telling her mother she wanted to be a vet, she completed her DVM at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. After graduating in 2003, she worked in small animal practice in the southern Twin Cities suburbs.
Her favorite medical disciplines are Internal Medicine, and Emergency and Critical Care medicine She is interested in exploring and in developing treatment modalities which will incorporate new findings from human and veterinary medicine into her patient care.
Outside interests are running, biking, exploring the city, foreign movies, reading, and cooking. Dr Franklin hopes to train for a 10 mile run, travel and learn Spanish in her free time.
Specialists in Nursing
Mr. Angel Rivera CVT, VTS (ECC)
Mr. Angel Rivera obtained his veterinary technician training in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Prior to coming to the Animal Emergency Center in 1991, he worked as an emergency service veterinary technician at the University of Pennsylvania Small Animal Hospital Emergency Services. After coming to Wisconsin, he served as a critical care technician and assistant supervisor at the critical care unit in the veterinary teaching hospital University of Wisconsin. Currently he is the Hospital Administrator, and Nursing Education Coordinator at the Animal Emergency Center. Mr. Rivera has been a guest lecturer to veterinarians and technicians at national and international meetings. Mr. Rivera was voted speaker of the year for the 1995 North American Veterinary Conference (technician program). He is the author and co-author in various journals, magazine articles, and research abstracts; as well as author/co-author in various textbooks published for veterinarians and technicians. Mr. Rivera's special interests in the specialty of veterinary emergency and critical care are ventilatory support and management, acid-base disorders and endocrine emergencies. In 1998, Mr. Rivera obtained his certification as a veterinary technician specialist (VTS) in the field of emergency and critical care. Mr. Rivera appeared on the cover of the July/2004 of Veterinary Technician Journal as one of the key-note speakers to technicians on veterinary emergency and critical care nursing.
Heather Darbo LVT, VTSCECC
Heather completed her Veterinary Technology Degree at Snead State Community College in 1997 and worked at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. She then moved to Chicago, Illinois to advance her Veterinary Technician skills in an Emergency Animal Hospital and completed an internship at the Milwaukee County Zoo. She then worked at the Animal Emergency Center and was for an internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York City in 2001. She completed her certification as a Veterinary Technician Specialist (Emergency and Critical Care). In October 2002, she started a veterinary technician staffing agency, Chicago Pet Relief, Inc. She continues her company on the side while enjoying her full time job in emergency medicine at the Animal Emergency Center. Heather has presented lectures for veterinary technology continuing education programs throughout the U.S. She loves playing recreational sports, visiting her family and spend her free time working or playing with animals. Heather shares her house with her her 3 Dachshunds, Tootsie Roll, Jelly Bean, and Jabba the Mut.
Jenny Wendtlandt CVT, VTS (ECC)
Ms. Jenny Wendlendt received her bachelor's degree in biology from UW-Milwaukee in 1998. She began working at the Animal Emergency Center in 1999 as an ICU nurse. Because of her obvious motivation and apptitude, she was trained to be a surgery/anesthesia nurse to the veterinary surgeons. She became a Certified Veterinary Technician in 2002. She received her certification in 2005 as a Veterinary Technician Specialist (VTS) in Emergency and Critical Care. She is currently the supervisor of the surgery nursing staff and plans to become VTS certified in anesthesia in the next couple of years. Most of Jenny's leisure time is spent with her dog. He is a Jack Russell Terrier named Sushi. They love to go to the park and to the lake with his dog friends and their owners. Jenny also enjoys reading and spending time with her friends and family.
Cheryl Page CVT, VTS (ECC)
Cheryl Page was born and raised in Milwaukee. As a child, she adopted and cared for many stray cats, leading to her interest in veterinary medicine. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1990 with a BS in Biological Science. She was a laboratory technician and a laboratory animal caretaker prior to joining the staff of the Animal Emergency Center in 1989. She became a Certified Veterinary Technician in 1993. Desiring additional experience, Cheryl working at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine for 1 1/2 years and then returned to AEC. She earned her certification in emergency/critical care medicine in September 2005. Cheryl enjoys the challenges of emergency medicine and has headed the blood donor program at AEC for many years. She now has a beautiful daughter, a very special husband, and many animal family members: 1 dog, Ayla, 2 cats, Lincoln and Pearl, 1 budgie, Wilson and assorted fish.