Dr. Alicia Howser grew up in the Mojave Desert in Southern California. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Sciences with a minor in Business Administration at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

After finishing her undergraduate degree, she became a licensed veterinary technician working in a bustling general practice and emergency hospital on the Central Coast. However, it was always the plan to become a veterinarian and after a couple of years away from school, she pursued this dream by attending veterinary school at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Dr. Howser finished her veterinary degree in 2014 and did a rotating internship in Indianapolis, where her love for surgery blossomed. Since then, she has done various specialized surgical internships and completed her three-year surgery residency at Summit Veterinary Referral Center in Tacoma. In 2021, she became a board-certified veterinary surgeon.

Throughout her training, Dr. Howser has come to enjoy all types of surgical cases, both orthopedic and soft tissue, but some of her favorite areas include cardiothoracic surgery, oncologic surgery, and TPLOs. She is actively developing her minimally invasive arthroscopic skills as well.

Living in Tacoma led to a love for the Pacific Northwest and the desire to settle here. In her free time, Dr. Howser enjoys spending time with her partner and their two dogs, a feisty French Bulldog named Pinot, and the sweetest three-legged Coonhound mix named Daisey.

She enjoys traveling, camping, hiking, and skiing. The recent pandemic reignited her interest in golf and she can be found out on the golf course about once a week if the weather is fair.

Dr. Howser is happy to promote the health and well-being of the PNW pets and she looks forward to continuing an adventurous PNW lifestyle.

Dr. Kelly Liwski was born and raised in Southern California. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Physiology at the University of California, Davis and achieved her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University. Following veterinary school, she completed a one-year rotating Internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. After her Internship, her passion for surgery led her to complete a three-year residency in Small Animal Surgery at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

Dr. Liwski has worked as a surgeon in specialty hospitals in Southern California for the past 25 years. Her broad range of experience covers both soft tissue and orthopedic surgery. She has also received advanced training in laparoscopic surgery, regenerative medicine and TPLO surgery.

Dr. Liwski recently moved to the Pacific Northwest, which has been a dream of hers for many years. When she’s not at work, she enjoys exploring the beautiful state of Washington, traveling the world with her husband, or trying to find ways to keep Mooney (her rambunctious rescue Sheepadoodle) from counter surfing or looking for foreign bodies to ingest. Dr. Liwski is also a big hockey fan and is anxiously awaiting the NHL coming to Seattle!

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 theatre 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, and followed this with a rotating internship at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, then a surgical internship at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital of San Diego before being accepted into a surgical residency. She completed her 3-year small animal surgical residency at Summit Veterinary Referral Center 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 is happy to be back in beautiful Washington.

Dr. Andersen strives to provide the absolute best outcome for each individual patient and family with a solution that fits their situation. This may be one of several surgical options and very often requires a combination approach with different specialties and the long-term care of their family veterinarian. Her goal with every consult is to educate and provide information that empowers others to make decisions about these different options with confidence. She also focuses 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 in the clinic, Dr. Andersen enjoys cooking, gardening, and continuing to create art, as well as spending time with her husband and their amazing border collie, Stoney Francis.