Dr. Denise Johnsen is a Southern California native, hailing originally from the Ventura area. Knowing she wanted to be a Veterinarian from a very early age, she attended UC Davis for both her undergraduate studies in Animal Science and veterinary school, graduating from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 2000. After briefly living in San Francisco and working at the San Francisco SPCA, she moved to Palo Alto in 2004 and has worked in the Los Altos area for over 16 years. Dr. Johnsen is very excited to be joining the LAVC staff! She enjoys all aspects of small animal medicine and surgery, but is particularly interested in internal medicine, ultrasonography, senior pet care, and general feline medicine. She also sees small mammal companion animals and hopes to add this aspect to our practice soon.

Dr. Johnsen lives in Palo Alto with her husband and young son and their menagerie of pets, which includes 2 dogs (a Jack Russel Terrier mix & an Australian Shepherd mix both adopted via rescue), 5 rescue cats, rodents, and a freshwater fish tank. As a family, they enjoy going to local sporting events, hiking, camping, and being with friends and family. She also loves being active with her dogs, having participated in the canine sport of Agility with previous dogs, and also rally and nosework with her Aussie, Kodi, and hoping to return to Agility with both dogs.