Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA | Surgery

Originally from Minnesota, Dr. Andersen trained in both Theatrical Design and Production and Molecular Biology at Macalester College, earning her BA in Theatre in 2005. After working in the theater for several years, she decided to pursue veterinary medicine as a way to utilize her design and engineering skills in orthopedics, while allowing her to be more actively involved in both local and global communities.

Dr. Andersen received her veterinary degree from the University of Minnesota in 2014. She followed this with a rotating internship at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, a surgical internship, and then matched into a surgical residency. She completed her 3-year small animal surgical residency in Tacoma, WA in 2019. During her training, her interest in other areas (particularly oncologic, reconstructive and wound management) grew, as well as improving pre-, peri- and postoperative protocols to provide the most comfortable surgical experience for pets.

Following her residency, Dr. Andersen accepted a surgical position at a large specialty referral practice in Hong Kong and gained experience working with an entirely new patient population with their own unique issues. She enjoyed gaining experience with managing fractures and complicated soft-tissue and trauma cases, such as those that happen when pets fall from one of Hong Kong’s numerous sky-scrapers. Despite the amazing people and patients in Hong Kong, the Pacific Northwest continued to call to her and her family and she returned to Washington in 2021, where she worked in a large referral clinic in the Seattle area until transitioning to mobile practice with MOVES. She is excited to provide more of the community engagement she thinks is critical in advancing the health of all species, and also to provide accessible and advanced surgical options to family pets in the comfort of their family clinics.

Dr. Andersen strives to provide the absolute best outcome for each individual patient and family with a solution that fits their situation and her goal with every consultation is to provide information that empowers others to make medical decisions with confidence. She and her team also focus on providing a patient experience that is as comfortable and stress-free as possible every step of the way as a happy patient will always heal faster.

When she is not working, Dr. Andersen enjoys cooking, gardening, being outdoors, and continuing to create art. She and her husband have three pets. Two amazing Border Collies named Stoney Francis and Takuan Logan, and a very sweet little Siamese named Wyatt Earp.