Get to know our veterinary team!

We are solely dedicated to your pet’s care! We look forward to getting to know you, and we hope you’ll take the time to scroll down and get to know us.

Meet Our Doctors

Dan Lewer, DVM

CEO and Owner

Emily Kalenius, DVM

Chief Medical Officer and Owner

About Emily

Emily attended Oregon State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, graduating first in her class in 2008. A private practice small animal internship in Los Angeles rounded out her training and cemented her love for emergency medicine. In addition to emergency medicine, her professional interests include ultrasound, cardiology, and internal medicine.

Crystal Ebert

Veterinarian

About Crystal

Crystal decided to work in this field because she is happy to be able to help pet families through any obstacles. Her favorite part about working here is practicing high-quality medicine with a compassionate, caring team. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing video games, tabletop role-playing games, and hanging out with friends, family, and her own critters at home. Something she has learned since working here is abdominal ultrasounds.

Emi Menzen

Veterinarian

Anna Wepprich

Veterinarian

About Anna

Dr. Anna Wepprich graduated from North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2014 (go Wolfpack!). She then completed an additional year of training rotating through various specialties during an internship at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine in 2014-2015. Anna has been practicing small animal emergency medicine since 2015, in both specialty hospital and general practice settings. She joined Wilvet Salem when they opened in 2021, and loves the incredible team of nurses, doctors, and CSRs.

When not working ER, Anna is active in aquatic animal medicine, running, cooking, and spending time with family.

Lea Hayes

Veterinarian

About Lea

Lea decided to work in this field because she loves being able to provide comfort and care to animals and their owners during what can be a very scary and stressful time. Her favorite part about working here is the continued commitment to providing the best medicine to patients. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading, and riding her horse. Something she has learned since working here is learning how to provide the best medicine and how to provide that to patients.

Rachel Gray

Veterinarian

About Rachel

Rachel has a deeply rooted compassion for animals, along with immense respect for the role pets play as members of the family. She loves medicine and advocating for patients to ensure they are happy and healthy. Rachel loves being part of the compassionate and energetic Wilvet team. Also, collaborating on cases with the other, talented doctors has helped her continuously learn and provide the best possible medical care for pets. When she’s not at the hospital, she can be found crocheting, playing video games, baking bread, and hanging out with her senior cat, Carl. On a Sunny summer day, she can be found fishing in lakes or rivers from her stand-up paddle board. In addition to sharpening her clinical skills, every day, she learns new and creative solutions to provide care to pets in a way that works for them and their families.

Chris Hovenden

Veterinarian

About Chris

Bio coming soon!

Dakota Harmon

Veterinarian

About Dakota

Dakota is a native Oregonian that ventured to St Kitts in the Caribbean for veterinary school, then finished her clinical year in Auburn, Alabama. She returned to the northwest and joined the amazing WilVet team, where she gets to practice high-quality medicine with a compassionate, caring team. Dakota loves wound care and management and being able to expand on surgical skills. In her spare time, Dakota loves to ride horses, hunt and fish, and go on outdoor adventures with her husband and son.

Sarah Burns

Veterinarian

About Sarah

Sarah loves emergency medicine because it offers the perfect balance of surgery and medicine. For her, it is so rewarding to be able to offer pet parents a helping hand in their greatest time of need. Sarah believes the camaraderie and teamwork between support staff and doctors are unmatched, and it allows patient care to be top-tier. In her free time, she love camping, backpacking, and hiking with her dog as well as kayaking. She is a water lover so you can find her at the river or a lake all summer swimming. Sarah has learned to never trust a case that you suspect will be an easy “slam dunk” diagnosis because they tend to end up with the most unexpected findings.

Meet Our Administrative Staff

Jess Lawrence

Practice Manager

About Jess

Jess enjoys ER medicine and likes saving critically injured animals. She loves the bond between humans and animals and likes to learn about veterinary medicine. She especially likes the culture and the mindset of the doctors and their willingness to work with clients. In her free time, Jess likes to listen to audiobooks and clean!

Tia

Office Manager

About Tia

Tia joined our team here at Wilvet Salem at the end of 2023. She started her career out cleaning kennels at age 16. She worked on her skills and became a nurse and spent 16 years helping animals throughout the Salem-Keizer area. In her free time, Tia likes to spend time with her 3 boys, her golden retriever (Jenna), and her 5 cats. She enjoys live music, books, cleaning/organizing, and always finds the time to hit up the beach!

Meet Our Nurses

Janene Stovall

Certified Vet Tech

Jason Glick

Veterinary Nurse

About Jason

Jason decided to work in this field because he was working at an AKC Certified Labrador Retriever Breeding and Training facility where he fostered a 2-year-old Lab named Lexi. He was always plagued with hotspots and skin/allergy type issues. While he fostered her, he helped her recover from her health issues and then started doing basic obedience with her. He was then sold to a couple in Santa Cruz, California, and began her new career working with kids with special needs. He was blown away at how amazing and how much a Labrador Retriever can do. They are amazing. After moving to Oregon, Jason found a lot of employment opportunities in Veterinary Medicine and devoted himself to obtaining a job as a Kennel Technician and has been in this field ever since.

Cassie Cosler

Veterinary Nurse

Marisa Varga

Veterinary Nurse

About Marisa

Marisa finds fulfillment in veterinarian medicine. She loves the criticals and surgeries the most. She enjoys the team as everyone is close and they all feel like family. In her free time, Marisa likes to hike, camp, go to the gym, and dance.

Heather Roarke

Veterinary Nurse

Stetson

Veterinary Nurse

About Stetson

Stetson loves being a part of everything surgery and loves his team. Stetson enjoys spending time with family in the great outdoors.

Natasha

Veterinary Nurse

Evelyn

Vet Nurse

Katrina

Vet Nurse

Jim

Vet Nurse

Kevin

Vet Nurse

Jeff

Vet Nurse

Kyla

Vet Nurse

Olivia

Vet Nurse

Kellymarie

Vet Nurse

Kasara

Vet Nurse

Ana

Vet Nurse

Becca

Vet Nurse

Amaris

Vet Nurse

Miguel Pedro

Vet Assistant

Shannon Conners

Vet Assistant

Kody

Vet Assistant

Jenna

Vet Assistant

Leilani Chock

Hospital Aid

Zayn

Hospital Aid