BluePearl Pet Hospital
Duluth, MN

Dr. Jeffrey Banwart has a particular interest in emergency surgical procedures and treating complex medical cases that require frequent re-evaluation and assessment, such as diabetic ketoacidosis.

Dr. Banwart loves the outdoors and enjoys activities like downhill skiing, landscaping, fishing and hiking. He and his wife are empty nesters.

Joel Erickson was a veterinarian and owner of a small animal veterinary clinic for over 30 years. After a short retirement, he returned to veterinary medicine as an emergency clinician. His clinical interests include all types of emergency surgeries, to include enterotomies, gastrotomies, gastric dilatation volvulus, resection and anastomosis, diaphragmatic hernias and wounds.

Dr. Erickson’s favorite pastimes include hiking, fishing, reading and college senior education.

Dr. Melissa Frank loves surgery and managing complex cases that require frequent monitoring and adjustment of therapy.

Married with three daughters, Dr. Frank enjoys spending time outside, hiking, camping and gardening. She also likes photography and reading. The family pets are on the smaller side – two parakeets, a betta fish and a snail.

Dr. Laura Kiehnbaum has worked in both mixed and small animal practices and as a shelter veterinarian.

Dr. Kiehnbaum volunteers her veterinary services with Leech Lake Legacy, a nonprofit organization that provides veterinary care to pets on an Indian reservation.

A love of learning and the wide-ranging cases drives Anastasia, with a passion for trauma and shock cases and stabilizing critical patients. For many years she has been a DJ for a local folk music radio show, and enjoys bird-watching, photography and camping. Anastasia has a son and daughter and two grandsons, as well as her cat Katrina and Staffordshire terrier mix Amelia.

Helping families and the unpredictable nature of emergency medicine excites Elizabeth, who expresses a particular love for C-sections and helping to bring new life into the world. She volunteers in surgery with the Animal Allies Humane Society and enjoys painting and hiking. Elizabeth loves time with her significant other and son, and her mastiff/lab/Rottweiler mix, Gemma Bean.

Emily strives to give pets and their families the best care possible to ease a stressful, and usually unexpected, situation, and one of her favorite things to do is pull porcupine quills. She likes hiking, fishing and snowboarding. Her pets include two cats, Chewy and Markeeta, and dog Tree.