Our Veterinarians
Dr. Parish was born in Nashville, TN but her family moved to Wilmington when she was just 6 weeks old, so she considers herself a native. After graduating from New Hanover High, she moved to California to pursue her dream in photography. UNCW brought her back to Wilmington for a year before she transferred to UNC where she graduated with a BA in Art History.
While working at an art gallery in Chicago, she had an epiphany. She realized that she loves animals and she wanted to dedicate her life to helping animals – there is an interesting story about a horse associated with this life changing decision, you should ask her about it. She quit working at the gallery and started working in the kennel at an animal hospital in Chicago. A short time later, she started taking pre-veterinary courses. She transferred to NC State and applied to Vet school. Dr. Parish graduated from NC State in 2006 and has been working at Atlantic Animal Hospital ever since.
Dr. Rohrer spent most of her life in North Carolina (Cherry Point and New Bern), except for the three years that her family was stationed in Tom’s River, NJ. Michele’s compassion and love for animals started very early. She was raised in a family with big hearts for animals. She cut her first tooth on the “rescue” dog Whiskers. She was biting his tail and he growled. She smiled and her tooth was finally showing!
When Michele was five, Santa brought a Play School Pet Hospital. She doctored all the neighborhood dogs and told everyone she was going to be Vet when she grew up. When her family took their pets to the Vet, she listened to every word they said and always had millions of questions. When her family went out on their boat, she insisted the dogs wear life jackets. During high school, she worked as a kennel technician and did a lot of pet sitting. She graduated from NC State in 1999 and moved to Wilmington. Prior to joining the Atlantic Animal Hospital team in June 2004, she had several years experience in both private practice and emergency medicine.
Associate Veterinarian
Dr. Schaffer and her family moved to Southeastern North Carolina in June of 2006, after she had graduated from Iowa State CVM in May of that year. Karessa hails from Madrid, a small town in Iowa. In high school, she started working in the kennel of a veterinary clinic and continued to work there for 9 1/2 years in a variety of positions, eventually becoming a veterinary technician. She had always had a love for animals, ever since Santa put black-n-white spaniel mix puppy in her first Christmas stocking.
Karessa is proud of her work, because she is responsible for strengthening the human-animal bond by helping sick animals feel better and helping healthy animals stay that way as long as possible. She enjoys working at Atlantic because every day is filled with new challenges for her and she enjoys the happiness and companionship that pets bring to their families.
Associate Veterinarian
Associate Veterinarian
Dr. Keener grew up in Hickory, NC. She received her undergraduate in Animal Science from the University of Georgia and followed this with her veterinary degree from North Carolina State University. After graduation, she went into emergency medicine. During this time, she also received her certification in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine and Acupuncture from the Chi Institute. She has also pursued training in endoscopy procedures.
Dr. Keener loves getting to know her patients through her interactions with them and stories from their families. In her free time, she likes to spend time with her 3 rescue dogs (Ting Ting, Magic and Nick), spoil her nieces and nephews and spend time at the beach.