Meet Our Team

Pet Wellness Center is made up of dedicated, passionate veterinary professionals whose number one priority is the health and well being of your pet. We have an exceptional group of certified technicians, veterinary assistants, and doctors on staff that provide a wealth of knowledge, skill, and years of experience. Armed with the latest diagnostic tools, we are confident a firm diagnosis and thorough treatment plan will be just what your pet needs to lead a happy, healthy life with you for years to come.


VETERINARIANS

  • Dr.
    J. Craig Smith
    Owner/Veterinarian

    Dr. J. Craig Smith is the Practice Owner and Senior Veterinarian at Pet Wellness Center, PC. Dr. Smith graduated from the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor's Degree in Animal Science. He received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Louisiana State University.

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  • Dr.
    Melanie Rossin-Gray
    Associate Veterinarian

    Dr Melanie Rossin-Gray is an Associate Veterinarian with Pet Wellness Center. She joined the practice in 2014, after practicing in Carbondale, IL. She attended McKendree College and Souther Illinois University at Edwardsville for her undergraduate and graduate training, and received her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Illinois in 2011.

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  • Dr.
    Kristine Kozak
    Associate Veterinarian

    Dr. Kristine Kozak is originally from Homer Glen, IL, a southwest suburb of Chicago. She received her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Illinois in May of 2018. She enjoys working with all animals: dogs, cats, cattle, goats, horses, sheep, and pigs. Especially when she gets to visit them on farm calls. When not working, Dr. Kozak relaxes by gardening and going to the movies with her husband, Peter. She also likes to take long walks with her rough-coated collies named Dex and Sunshine.

  • Dr. Richard Ashe
    Small Animal DVM

    Growing up in Southern Illinois, Dr. Ashe developed a kindred bond with its wonderfully diverse natural resources. With parental influence, accountability was developed at an early age towards not only nature and our native species of plants and animals, but also our domesticated ones from pets to farm animals large and small.

    After graduating from Marion Senior High, he was off to the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana for eight years, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture first, and then four years later in 1981 a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine with Honors.

    Veterinary medical and surgical experience was gained from an early age from summer jobs and internships during high school and college, then after graduation several general practices in Kentucky and Oklahoma. He also enjoyed working on Avian and Exotic species in a specialized practice in addition to emergency medicine in an afterhour’s hospital in Kansas. Dr. Ashe has done relief/consulting work and surgery for a local animal rescue facility.

    Dr. Ashe appreciates living and working in Southern Illinois, finding time for outdoor activities and hobbies like fishing and boating, spending time with family and friends, not to mention helping people and their critters. Traveling to Africa with Marion Medical Mission for three weeks in the fall each year to install water wells is extremely fulfilling and rewarding.

    Dr. Ashe likes not only the medicine and patients but also the staff and clients. “It is truly a blessing to be able to go to work and all the while doing what one thoroughly loves.”

Nurses / Client Advocates

  • Kendall Russell
    Veterinary Assistant/Room Nurse

    Kendall was welcomed to our family in March of 2022 as a kennel nurse and now is a nurse assistant and planning on working her way up to a nurse. She is currently going to Rend Lake College to complete her Veterinary Assistant Certification and plans on continuing her education in vet medicine. She has a lot to offer to this family and were looking forward to seeing her grow.

  • Jude Meekin
    Veterinary Assistant/Pharmacy Nurse

    Jude has been with PWC for over a year. She is currently enrolled in vet tech school through Penn Foster. She is certified as a vet assistant and laser therapist. You can also find her in the pharmacy helping out. Outside of work you can find her catching snakes and loving on her many pets. She works hard every day and is a great member to our family.

  • Sidney Whorton
    Laboratory Manager

    Sidney has been with us since April 2022, as a Nurse & Laboratory Assistant. She is a mom to 4 year old twins, Remington & Aurora, 2 dogs, 2 cats and her adorable pet opossum, Poppy. She has spent most of her life around animals working on numerous farms in the Chicagoland area in high school and college. She moved to Southern Illinois in late 2012 where she got involved in local rescue groups helping foster, transport and network for high volume facilities in the area. She worked at Herrin Animal Control as an officer from 2015-2018 before leaving to raise her twins. She enjoys hanging out with her kids and working at a local Police Department in her free time. 

  • Amberley Webb
    Nurse Assistant

    Amberley has worked at pet wellness center since April 2021. She has started out in the lodge and is still work over in lodge once in a while. Now she is being trained as nurse over at Thompsonville veterinary clinic. She went to rend lake college for veterinary assistant in 2020. She is also a mom of 1 dog (radar) and 3 cats ( Zina, ziggy, and Ms. B).

  • Ivory Bradford
    Client Advocate

    Ivory joined Greater Vision Vet Care family in September of 2021. She is a Client Advocate for Pet Wellness Center and Thompsonville Veterinary Clinic. She is a loving dog mom of three Cleo, Atlas, & Buddy. We look forward to watching her grow and become more knowledgeable in her carrier.

  • Dawn Merritt
    Client Advocate/Standard Process Representative

    Dawn is from Harrisburg IL, She has been a Client Advocate with PWC since March 2020 and has over 7 years of customer service experience from working in the health and wellness field.

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  • Angela Frerking
    Veterinary Nurse/Triage Nurse

    Angie had joined Pet Wellness Center in April 2011 as a kennel technician and over the years has moved up to the Lead Vet Nurse.  She has a passion to provide care for pets and knowledge to owners for a lifetime of health.
    If you ever see her at the clinic, she usually always has a smile on her face!

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  • Tina Maciell
    Lead Hospital Nurse

    Graduated from Veterinary Technician School in Tucson, Arizona June of 2005.  I primarily have worked in emergency medicine since then; which is a special interest of mine.  I relocated from the west coast to be near a part of my family that I hold dear.

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  • Whitney Walker
    Lead Call Center

    Hello my name is Whitney Walker and I am from Harrisburg, IL. I have worked here at Greater Vision Veterinarian Care for five years. I have been positioned as the lead Veterinarian Surgery Nurse on our team.

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  • Kresna Elam
    Certified Hospital Veterinary Nurse

    Kresna is from Harrisburg IL and has 5 years of experience working in ER and critical care after graduating from SICCM in 2018. She obtained an associates degree and earned her veterinary technician certification. Her passion is ER and nursing care. She is also a mother of 4 beautiful dogs and 1 cat. She has been with us since March 6/22/22 and continues to grow, learn, improve, and get better.

  • Kameron Cole
    Hospital Nurse

    Kameron has an Associates Degree in biology and Bachelor's Degree in animal science with a concentration in pre-veterinary science. She was born and raised Anna, Illinois and strived to become a certified veterinary technician starting fall 2022. Her mission is always to give her 100% to help out every patient, in the best way possible for them, every time. She is interested in all things animal related from dogs, cats, ferrets, and guinea pigs to horses, cattle, goats and exotics like big cats, bears, wolves, cavies, all birds etc. She also love's  doing something called diamond painting and have quite a few completed over the years!

  • Trey Widger
    Hospital/Surgery Nurse

    Coming Soon!

  • Matt Deal
    Veterinary Technician

    He has attended Southeastern Illinois College and Murray State University. His passions are raising cattle and Australian Shepherds. He has around 50 head of cattle. His herd consists of registered Angus, Hereford, and Simmental Cattle. He also has a herd of Australian Shepherds. When he's am not at work, He's found in the cow barn or pasture with my cows and dogs. He grew up Raising Game birds, cattle, and swine. Bringing over 20 years' experience in animal Husbandry. He plans on completing the Purdue University Vet Tech program and furthering my education in Veterinary Medicine. Matt is also one of the 4-H leaders for the Pioneers 4-H club in saline County. He serves on saline county 4-H livestock committee and Management committee. He loves helping teach our youth about livestock and agriculture and hope I am able to do so for years to come

  • Rebecca Henson
    Veterinary Technician

    I have been a team member at Pet Wellness since December of 2020. I long to continue my education and work my way up to becoming a Veterinary Technician. In my free time I like spending time with family and my 3 dogs. I am the oldest of 6 siblings. My boyfriend got me into the hobby of fish keeping and working out. I enjoy hiking on a nice day and watching movies on a rainy one.

  • Jessica Pearson
    Client Advocate

    Coming Soon!

  • Jessica Guthrie
    Veterinary Nurse

    Jessica has been in the veterinary field for 5 years. She completed my undergrad degree at Southeast Missouri State University in 2021 with a degree in Agriculture: Animals Science. Jessica is currently in her  Veterinary Technology program at Platt College in California to become a registered veterinary technician and will graduate in September. Jessica has a passion for wildlife and exotics, she loves learning new things about each species. Jessica has two dogs named Demi and Louie and a cat named Obsidian. 

  • Maria Meola
    Veterinary Technician/Client Advocate

    Coming Soon!

  • Abigale Hale
    Veterinary Technician

    Bio pending

  • Ashlyn Buck
    Veterinary Technician

    Bio Pending

  • Carol Grisham
    Accounts Manager/Sanitation Supervisor

    Bio Pending

Administration

  • Jacob Elias
    Veterinary Rehabilitation Therapist

    Jacob has worked at multiple clinics throughout his life before coming to us. He has went to John A Logan to get his associates degree in science and SIU to get his Bachelors degree in Science.

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  • Kirstyn Tucker
    Certified Veterinary Nurse/ Lead Nurse

    Kirstyn has been working in vet med for over 10 years. She grew up on hog and horse farms and has always had a passion for animals. She has 2 children that she adores along with 3 horses, 2 pigs, 4 dogs and 3 cats.

  • Alison Riddle
    Thompsonville Site Manager

    Alison completed the Veterinary Assistant Program at Southeastern Illinois College in December 2021. She interned at Thompsonville Veterinary Clinic from August-December 2021 and was hired right after her internship. Since December, Alison has worked her way up to working as a Nurse. Her favorite thing about working in Veterinary Medicine is having a relationship with clients and their pets. She enjoys getting to work with many species of livestock on farm calls with Dr. Kozak and Dr. Seals. She has 3 goats, 3 dogs, a horse, and a miniature horse. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her goats and spending time with family.

  • Jennifer Russell
    Accounting

    Jennifer joined the Pet Wellness Center team in November of 2016 bringing over three years of veterinary office experience and over twenty years of business management experience with her.  She has a flair for marketing and design and loves spending time with her husband, Shane and their son, Riley.

  • Angela Millner
    Inventory Manager/Pharmacy

    Angela joined the Pet Wellness Center team in August of 2016 bringing over three years of veterinary office experience with her.  Her passion for animals and providing exceptional customer service led her to the veterinary field.  Angela resides in Ava, Illinois and enjoys spending time with her two children, Blake & Cassie and their beautiful yorkie, Sophie.

  • Jessica Richey
    Lodge Manager

    Coming Soon!

Client Advocates

  • Maria Meola
    Veterinary Technician/Client Advocate

    Coming Soon!

  • Dawn Merritt
    Client Advocate/Standard Process Representative

    Dawn is from Harrisburg IL, She has been a Client Advocate with PWC since March 2020 and has over 7 years of customer service experience from working in the health and wellness field.

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  • Ivory Bradford
    Client Advocate

    Ivory joined Greater Vision Vet Care family in September of 2021. She is a Client Advocate for Pet Wellness Center and Thompsonville Veterinary Clinic. She is a loving dog mom of three Cleo, Atlas, & Buddy. We look forward to watching her grow and become more knowledgeable in her carrier.

  • Hannah Johnson
    Lead Client Advocate for GPL

    Hannah recently graduated from Crab Orchard High School in 2021 and has been working for Pet Wellness since August of 2021. She's the Lead Client Advocate over at Lodging and Grooming side of the facility. She enjoys working with animals and learning about different animal behaviors. She has had animals all her life and enjoys coming to work every day! She has stepped up and took charge over the time she's been here and we can't wait to see what else she can offer.

LODGING/GROOMING

  • Charlene Wagley
    Pharmacist

    Charlene started at PWC in September of 2021. She has always had a love for animals for as long as she could. Her heart is set on farm animals,  and exotics. She has experience with everything from feathers and scales, to fur and hooves. Her fiancé and their 2 young daughters Remington and Thora are her world, . With 6 years together they had built a farm/rescue at one point having over 300 free range chickens, quail, turkeys, peacocks, guineas,  ducks, geese, goats, sheep, rabbits, cows, and  horses.  Charlene loves to garden, fish, and hunt. She also enjoys just being out in nature with family and her fur babies Hercules, and Tyson. At home you can catch her caring for her Ball python (Malfoy) bearded dragon(Puff), and Leopard gecko (Fire Spirit)'

  • Sarah Doris
    Lodging Nurse

    My name is Sarah Doris and I am a Lodge Technician at Great Paws Lodge. I graduated from SIUC in 2021 with a Bachelor's degree in Zoology and a minor in Psychology and STEM Leadership. I have always loved working with animals and I hope to one day open my own animal rescue with my sister.

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  • Amberley Webb
    Nurse Assistant

    Amberley has worked at pet wellness center since April 2021. She has started out in the lodge and is still work over in lodge once in a while. Now she is being trained as nurse over at Thompsonville veterinary clinic. She went to rend lake college for veterinary assistant in 2020. She is also a mom of 1 dog (radar) and 3 cats ( Zina, ziggy, and Ms. B).

  • Hannah Dorris
    Lodge Technician

    Coming Soon!

  • Jenny Holder
    Groomer

    Coming Soon.

Contact Us

We look forward to hearing from you

Location

Find us on the map

Office Hours

Our Regular Schedule

Monday:

7:30 am-6:00 pm

Tuesday:

7:30 am-6:00 pm

Wednesday:

7:30 am-6:00 pm

Thursday:

7:30 am-6:00 pm

Friday:

7:30 am-5:00 pm

Saturday:

8:00 am-12:00 pm

Sunday:

Closed