Getting to Know Dr. Stefanie Wong - Our Newest DVM by Erin Selby

We have another stellar veterinarian joining our team this month – Dr. Stefanie Wong! Dr. Wong is our first homegrown veterinarian - she grew up in San Ramon and took her pets to Bishop Ranch Veterinary Center & Urgent Care when she was young! We interviewed Dr. Wong so you could find out more about her – we hope you will be as excited about her joining our practice as we are.  


Where did you grow up?

I am a San Ramon native. I grew up taking my childhood pets to Bishop Ranch Vet (Dr. Kerr was their primary care doctor) and I am so excited to be coming back to practice here!

Tell us about your educational background and what you have been up to since you left San Ramon.

I went to undergrad at UCLA (graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution); while there I did a field biology quarter in the rainforests of Nicaragua studying the calling of the strawberry poison dart frog - and wrote a paper which subsequently was published! Between undergrad and vet school I spent three months living and working in rural villages around Arusha, Tanzania (Africa) educating and dispelling rumors about HIV/AIDS with a non-profit called Support for International Change. I went to veterinary school at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and graduated last year 2012. After 4 years of snowy winters, I happily returned to California for a rotating small animal medicine and surgery internship at VCA West LA in Los Angeles.

How many pets do you have? What kind of pets are they and what are their names?
I don't have any pets currently, but look forward to adopting one this year now that I'm finally more settled in my life.


What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
In my spare time, I enjoy anything that involves the great outdoors and sunshine - running (marathons, half marathons and relay races!), surfing, snowboarding, hiking and kayaking.


Describe how and why you became interested in becoming a veterinarian. What motivates you to be a veterinarian?
I have always known that I wanted to practice medicine as I like being able to use my knowledge to help others. I like veterinary medicine in particular because animals cannot tell you where it hurts or what is wrong - I like that extra challenge. I would have to say I first became interested in pursuing veterinary medicine as a career when I brought my pets to Bishop Ranch Vet as a client.


What do you look forward to about working at Bishop Ranch Veterinary Center & Urgent Care?
I am so excited to be returning to the clinic where my childhood pets were treated growing up. Things that I especially like about Bishop Ranch are the collaborative atmosphere, the high level of medicine and the fact that the veterinarians here get to do lots of surgery!


What do you love most about being a veterinarian?

It is such a rewarding profession. One of the things I am looking forward to most with entering primary care practice is building long-lasting relationships with clients and their pets. In terms of special interests within the profession, I really enjoy surgery (soft tissue and orthopedic), emergency medicine and dentistry.