Joanna Kowalska is originally from Poland where she grew up snowboarding, hiking, and wakeboarding. She attended veterinary school in Poland graduating in 2009, the same year she also won the Polish Championship of Kiteboarding. It was through international competition that Dr. Kowalska earned an athletic visa and ultimately green card entry into the U.S., while her goal was always to become a certified veterinarian here. She started working as a veterinary technician in Charleston, SC in order to gain some practical experience and communication skills. In 2016 she was accepted into Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine to complete a year of clinical experience, the last step before becoming a licensed veterinarian in the U.S. after which she moved to San Diego where she worked in urgent care hospital training under internal medicine and critical care specialist. While San Diego was a perfect place to combine her water sports passions and work she was always drawn to the mountains. In 2021 she accepted a position at Bishop Veterinary Hospital. She loves working in rural environment where she can combine all aspects of veterinary medicine.
Joanna now lives in Mammoth Lakes, where she has remodeled her home making a nest for herself, her partner Jared, dog Helen and Windy the cat. When she’s not working you can find her climbing, backpacking, mountain biking or snowboarding.
Joanna holds a lot of compassion for her clients and thrives on the detective work of internal medicine. She looks forward to helping you and your loved ones