Meet the Team of Haiku Veterinary Clinic in Kaneohe! We’re pleased to provide exceptional vet care for your pets!
Please call us at (808) 235-6405 to speak to one of our caring veterinary staff members!
As a young child, Lisel was inspired to work with animals by her cocker spaniel, Charles Dickens. He was Lisel’s constant companion, allowing himself to be dragged to friends’ houses and brushed like a doll. The unconditional love that Charles Dickens demonstrated confirmed what Lisel had already suspected: that a career in animal care was the only choice for her!
Lisel was born and raised in Oahu. In 2000, she began here at Haiku Veterinary Clinic as a receptionist. It wasn’t long before she was asked to take on the position of Practice Manager. Now, Lisel’s passion for animal care has resulted in a rewarding 15-year career!
Around the clinic, Lisel especially enjoys watching puppies grow up, seeing sick animals get better, and witnessing families bond and thrive over their pets. Seeing generations of families grow up with their furry friends is incredibly special for her.
Lisel is a passionate horseback rider and loves riding in the rain, ranching, and working cattle. She also enjoys traveling, having bonfires on the beach, and spending time with family and friends. Lisel is active in the area’s volunteer community and sits on several boards, including the Windward Veterinary Technician Board; she’s been a member since it was founded!
Pets were always a central part of Jeanne’s family as she was growing up. The older she got, the more she realized that she’d like to be more informed about their care. One of Jeanne’s most trusted friends regularly brought her dog here to Haiku Veterinary Clinic to see Dr. Elison, so she decided to apply for a job!
Jeanne serves as a Administrative Assistant here at the hospital. She enjoys studying medical conditions, administering preventative care, and educating enthusiastic pet owners about the best possible care for their beloved animal companions. She’s also passionate about serving alongside her compassionate and talented coworkers; nothing beats working with a team of animal lovers just like herself!
Growing up in California and Oregon, Kevin and his family always had animals around the house. He’s had a deep respect and love for pets since he can remember, and he’s turned his passion into a career spanning more than 20 years!
Kevin’s Veterinary Technician career began in 1994 when he applied for a job at his local vet’s office in East Honolulu. After four years of service there, he moved on to another clinic in 1998. After another six years, he began at a 24-hour emergency facility in Waipahu, staying there for six years and managing for five. At this point, Kevin had an itch to get back to more one-on-one care with pet patients, so he started here at Haiku Veterinary Clinic in 2011. Now he serves as the clinic’s Lead Veterinary Technician!
As a Tech, Kevin loves to see an animal in poor health leave the clinic feeling better. He’s particularly good at helping cats and dogs feel more comfortable—he’s even been called the “cat whisperer!” Kevin is also passionate about teaching others the fine art of Technician work.
Kevin and his wife, Sara, run an organization called the Love a Cat Charity, which helps control the overpopulation of feral cats in Hawaii. They care for about 300 cats on a daily basis! When he isn’t caring for animals, Kevin enjoys collecting stamps, crafting items from wood, and watching movies.
Tiana has wanted to work in animal care ever since she was a little girl—she’s been hooked ever since she saw her childhood cat give birth to kittens! Tiana is proud to care for the area’s pets and animal owners as a member of the Haiku Veterinary Clinic team.
From Waipahu, Tiana began her veterinary journey while shadowing a Veterinary Technician during high school. Through her shadowing, she learned of the Veterinary Technician program at Windward Community College and jumped at the chance to apply. Tiana attended the program for three years and graduated with her Technician’s certification in May of 2015.
Tiana first started here at Haiku Veterinary Clinic in March of 2015 while finishing up her studies, and was hired on as a full-time employee in June of that year. She is especially fond of working with clients, and doing labwork examining samples under the microscope, and drawing blood.
Kristianne’s childhood Chihuahua/terrier mix was fiercely protective and loyal to a fault—early on in life, she recognized the true value of our animal companions! Kristianne always knew that she wanted to put her skills to good use by helping others’ pets, and she gets to do just that as a member of Haiku Veterinary Clinic’s care team.
Kristianne is originally from Maui, and moved to Honolulu in 2009 to earn her bachelor’s degree in animal science. She settled in Kaneohe in 2014 and has been gaining experience in the field of veterinary medicine ever since. Now, she’s a Veterinary Assistant and Kennel Technician with the Haiku Veterinary Clinic team!
Aside from her interests in the world of animal care, Kristianne enjoys trying new foods, snorkeling, playing video games, practicing on the guitar, tending to her fish tanks, and spending time with her own pets. She lives with Kainani, a rescued hound mix who is learning more tricks and commands every day, as well as a pair of lovable cats who go by Felix and Piper.
Bio coming soon!
Lindsey is a San Diego native who has become a part of our Ohana in June 2020. Being surrounded by the ocean in her home town Lindsey knew that she had a passion for animals, especially our marine one! Her passion for working with animals quickly grew while working at the Waikiki Aquarium in 2016 as a Monk Seal Husbantry Employee. “I fell in love with being tasked with the duty of taking care and tending to the animals’ medical needs.” Lindsey then went on to pursue more into her love for marine life by moving on to work at NOAA as a Sea Turtle Stranding associate and tended to our wild sea turtles through rehabilitation and release. Switching from exotic animals to a veterinary clinic has been an interesting and rewarding transition. As a recent graduate from UH Manoa with a bachelors in Marine Biology, she is also attending the San Juan College to receive her Veterinary Technician Certificate. In her Free Time she loves to go hiking and diving with her Australian Shepard puppy, Kaia. Fun fact: I lived on a small sandbar (50 yards long, 20 yards wide) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at an atoll called French Frigate Shoals for 6 months researching temperature impact on Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle Hatching success. During that time, I only saw one person every three weeks.
Kara is currently a Veterinary Assistant, client care coordinator and the lead ACT member at Haiku! She started working at Haiku when she decided she was ready to further her career in Veterinary Medicine. When Kara was 18, she began volunteering at a Humane Society back home in Georgia and loved it.
Kara was inspired by the program director there who was a certified Vet Tech; she did excellent work for their shelter and the community, and was an amazing mentor to her. When Kara moved here to Hawaii, she knew it was time to take the next step in following her dream to have a career in animal medicine. She is truly enjoying her job here at Haiku for so many reasons! To name a couple, Kara love’s meeting new pets of all shapes and sizes every day! She is also learning so much about how to provide the absolute best healthcare for our furry family members. One of her favorite things to do at work is running lab tests, especially examining slides under our microscope. She finds it very interesting to be able to correctly identify specimens and help our doctors diagnose and treat our patients. In her free time, Kara enjoys going to the dog park and for walks on the beach with her own doggy and wonderful husband.
Kristin is a Kaneohe native and the newest member of our Haiku Vet, joining us in June 2020. With a love for animals from a young age, even before she was able to own animals, she knew that she would someday find herself working with them. Years later she found her self pet sitting for some regulars at her previous job and it was then that she knew she had to continue to pursue her dreams of working in the veterinary field.
With possible sights set on veterinary school in the future she is extremely excited to begin her steps towards those goals here with us.
What she loves most about working with patients is the interactions and difference in personalities. “Some are nervous and some are excited to see me, But I love helping to work with the nervous ones to try and become their friend and soothe their anxiety a little. I love the hands on work with animals to no end”
Kristin loves caring for our boarding pets because they always make her smile. And, s second thing she likes to do at work is cleaning. “I love seeing the clinic as clean as I can get it to be with the time I’m allowed to spare. It keeps me safe, and the little fur babies safe as well,” which is an extremely great trait to have in 2020! Kristin also loves the pets for the technicians during their exams. f
Her hobbies include watching animal rescue shows like Pitbulls and Parolees, playing games on my Nintendo switch, painting my house, and doing the yard. I often like to try and touch up on my Japanese speaking!
The best and funny experience which she shares with us is her first experience getting peed on by our cat Pua when I was holding him! He still urinates on me when he is overly excited or loopy from medication. It’s not upsetting, it just makes me laugh and remember my friends dog Sebastian who would only pee on me out of excitement whenever I came to visit.
Gracia started working at Haiku Veterinary Clinic in December of 2019 in the Animal Care Team department and loves it! She loves working with animals so she thought that working at a vet clinic would be perfect! Born and raised in Kailua she has never lived anywhere else but the majority of her family lives in Australia. With frequent travels to Australia, she has been able to have a wide range of animal encounters.
Growing up, Gracia and her mom would be known for rescuing or taking in animals in need. She has always wanted to do extra part time work with animals as they are already a huge part of her life. Even now she continues to take in animals when they need homes. Though they do try to limit it! She just wants to be able to give homes and help animals that might not have anywhere else to go. Gracia enjoys playing with the animals when we give them play time the most. When we have puppies in the clinic, they are generally not allowed outside since they have not completed their vaccines. She calls it “puppy play time”! Gracia also enjoys taking care of our two loving cats. Both Tigger and Pua love snuggles and attention! It makes her happy knowing that she is going to get to see their faces when she arrives at work!
Gracia’s life time hobby would be horses. She grew up riding horses from birth as her mom also grew up with horses. She currently go to the stables every single day unless she is out of town. Outside of horses, she loves to go on hikes and go to the beach. She enjoys taking her dog with her on her adventures! Growing up in the horse world Gracia was a member of the United States Pony Club. She passed several ratings year after year until she graduated from high school. After high school, Gracia attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa and graduated with a Bachelors in Education. She is certified in both Elementary and Special Education, and is a current fourth grade teacher at a small school in Kailua!
Jenee is a veterinary assistant and client care coordinator at Haiku Veterinary Clinic. She has worked in the vet field for 6 years. Jenee was born and raised in Hawaii and has lived in Kaneohe her whole life. She has had cats as a child and loved animals while growing up. When she was young her cousin and her would find animals and try to nurse them back to health. Jenee has 2 cats (Momo and Troubles) and a tortoise (Franklin). She has completed the first year of the Windward Community College Veterinary Technology program and plans to continue pursuing her education. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her 2 kids, going shopping or to the beach.
Bio Coming soon!
Ashley grew up with everything from dogs and cats to horses and goats—it wasn’t difficult for her to develop a deep-seated passion for animal care at an early age. She’s been volunteering at animal shelters since she was only 10 years old! Ashley now serves as Haiku Veterinary Clinic’s lead client care coordinator.
Ashley was born in Washington, D.C., and spent her childhood years in Maryland before moving to California after getting married. Five years later, her husband was assigned to a base in Hawaii—she’s been here ever since. Ashley has worked in animal shelters since the age of 17, and served in three separate facilities before joining the team here at Haiku Veterinary Clinic.
Ashley’s interests outside of animal care include horseback riding, reading, cooking and baking, hiking, and kayaking. She and her husband have two pets at home: Roxy is a feisty Chihuahua/dachshund mix who was adopted from the San Diego Humane Society, and Bruce the cat who was found on a busy street in Hawaii at only 3 weeks old.
Ally has always had a love for animals with special interests in the medicine and problem solving side of it all. But, what really reassured Ally of her passion in the career field was during her first time shadowing. Just days on the job she received an the opportunity to watch a foreign body removal surgery and thats what she says solidified her interest in veterinary medicine. Originally a California native, growing up with a variety of dogs, cats, snakes, rats and horses. Ally began her work in the veterinary field as a receptionist at a clinic in Sonoma, CA. “I love seeing different animals every day, watching them heal and I especially love assisting with surgery,” says Ally. When I am not at work my hobbies include horseback riding, swimming and snorkeling.
Aaron is a Client Care Coordinator and Marketing Coordinator here at Haiku Veterinary Clinic. He went towards the Veterinary field because he loves animals. His dogs Laila and Bear always put him in the best mood when he is home and that is when he realized working with animals make him incredibly happy.
Aaron wants to love the job his does, and he has found that here at Haiku. He always knew he wanted to work with animals since he was young. He grew up moving around due to his dad being in the military. When they had their previous dog Layla, he always loved going to the veterinarian with his parents, everyone was always friendly and knowing there’s doctors out there that can help animals without any way of contact was always impressive to him.
As Aaron got older, he wanted to volunteer at shelters or get a job in the veterinary field, but it was always hard to get in the field with little to no experience. As years went on, he finally moved to Hawaii and Haiku was one of the first clinics he went to and he always loved the vibe and how friendly everyone was. Working at Haiku was a goal for him and after several months of hard work he applied for Haiku Veterinary Clinic and got a call for an interview. In that moment he felt this was his only opportunity to show who he was and why he wanted to work at Haiku.
Aaron enjoys the people and the animals he gets to work with. Everyone is extremely friendly and show great teamwork and that is hard to find in a job. He loves to communicate with clients and show them that we are here to help. He loves being able to help the technicians and doctors with anything they need.
Aaron loves to plan events and make decisions on certain events and how they should come about. Growing up his Mom and Dad were his rocks. They made him the kind and great person I am today. Later down the line he met his husband Zavier who supports everything he does and is his rock now. His interest has been digital media design, he always enjoyed designing and now that he gets to work and create things for the clinic, he feels like he is doing something he loves. Aaron became an assistant manager at the age of 20 at a previous job and graduated high school with honors.
Ava started at Haiku Veterinary Clinic in September of 2020 as one of our client care coordinators. Ava started at a pet hospital as a vet assistant and moved to reception at HVC to have a hand in both client and patient care. She loves animals in general, but her dog Willow made her want to get into veterinary medicine. She wants to have firsthand knowledge of how to care for her past the everyday routines. Ava enjoys talking to clients and hearing about their pet’s improvements from sick visits.
Ava grew up in the country parts of Georgia with animals of all types, domestic, wild and exotics. Sha has always been interested in animals, and their effects on daily life for people and nature. She lives here with her husband, their dog Willow and 2 cats Flora and Kalua.
Ava’s interests are environmental impacts to wildlife and preservation. She enjoys going out and seeing as much of nature as she can, and really enjoys the sea life and snorkeling.
One of her notable achievements was when she was previously pet CPR and first aid certified and working at a boarding facility. That training helped to save a dog’s life who needed surgery for bloat. She still feels proud she was able to see the signs and make the call and the dog recovered and went home to her family.
Meet Tigger! Tigger joined the clinic when he was nine months old, as an adopted kitty. Dr. Elison and the staff took him in and cared for him and he has been here at Haiku ever since! We consider him a big part of our Haiku family! Tigger is now 13 years old, and at times he can be a bit of a drama king. He is the sweetest boy ever and his personality is one of a kind! You can find Tigger lounging around the clinic, hanging with the groomers, playing with all his toys and getting extra loving from the staff here! His favorite thing to do is yell(meow) at the staff to give him extra snacks!
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