OUR TEAM
Doctors
Dr. Dan Wilson
DVM/ Practice Owner
Dr. Wilson fulfilled his life-long dream of becoming a veterinarian by graduating from Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1994 at the age of 24. Dr. Wilson began his veterinary career in Michigan, then moved to North Carolina in 1998, working for the NC State Veterinarian. Before starting Country Vet Clinic, Dr. Wilson practiced locally with Port City Animal Hospital. Dr. Wilson is married to his college sweetheart, Danielle. Dr. Wilson and Danielle have been married since 1994 and have 4 children. They are actively involved at Wrightsville Beach Baptist Church, as well as local Prison Ministry and World Missions in Ghana, Africa. When Dr. Wilson is not working he enjoys sailing and classic cars.
Dr Brenda Fox
DVM
After working in the pharmaceutical industry for 10 years, Dr. Fox decided to go back to school to pursue her true passion, Veterinary Medicine. She graduated from North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2015. In her free time, Dr. Fox enjoys going to the beach, reading, and running. She also enjoys volunteering with the non-profit group, World Vets. With this group, she has made several trips to Central and South America providing free surgeries and veterinary care to low income communities. Originally from Upstate New York, Dr. Fox has lived in Wilmington for 21 years. Her and her husband, Ron, have been married for 19 years and share their home with their 3 dogs – Mearl, Rudd, and Rusty.
Dr. Heather Morden
DVM
Dr. Heather Morden grew up on a dairy farm in northeastern Iowa which is where her love for working with animals started. Dr. Morden graduated from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2007 and moved to northern Illinois right after graduating where she practiced until moving here in August 2019. Dr. Morden is Fear Free Certified and is excited to use these methods to help your pet be more at ease during their appointments. Dr. Morden also enjoys surgery. She is a member of the American Veterinary Medicine Association. Dr. Morden and her husband have 3 dogs (2 Great Danes and a Jack Russell mix), 1 cat, and 2 horses. Dr. Morden enjoys traveling, motorcycling, skiing, scuba diving, and spending time with her pets, family, and friends.
Dr. Mary Odom
DVM
With a missionary’s heart, Dr. Odom responded to the call to be a veterinarian while in the midst of raising five children. With her very supportive husband, whose response to the call was “Let’s go for it,” and with kids ranging in age from 9 to 19, the family moved from Scottsdale, Arizona to Ames, Iowa for mom to go to veterinary college at Iowa State University, where Dr. Odom received her DVM in 1996. After a year taking care of farm horses, cows, and sheep in Appalachia, Dr. Odom and her husband returned to Phoenix, Arizona, where they owned Downtown Pet Center in the inner city for six years, ministering to the poor and homeless as well as providing low cost spay/neuter for dozens of rescue groups. In 2001, Dr. Odom took a position as Pre-Veterinary Advisor and Adjunct Faculty at Arizona State University, where for another six years she taught Vertebrate Zoology, Animal Science, and Animal Physiology to the pre-veterinary students. In 2007, after her husband had become paralyzed from a stroke, they moved back to her husband’s home of North Carolina. Having also worked for two large corporate practices during those years, honing her internal medicine skills, in 2008 Dr. Odom felt a new call from Revelation 22:2 – “the leaves of the tree will be for the healing of the nations.” Realizing that plants were given to us for our food and medicine, Dr. Odom began to pursue the study of integrative medicine, and now has training in veterinary homeopathy, traditional Chinese veterinary medicine and acupuncture, canine and equine medical massage therapy, and Western herbal veterinary medicine. Because so many clients on the other end of the leash have expressed a desire to know more about alternatives for their own health, Dr. Odom is working on her ND through Trinity School of Natural Health and is enrolled in Aviva Romm’s online course in Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health. She has also completed a two-year Graduate Certificate in Theological Studies at Denver Seminary. In 2015, Dr. Odom’s husband of 43 years passed away, and she subsequently downsized her life to a boat moored downtown on the Cape Fear River, with her horse boarded nearby. Hurricane Florence ended that lifestyle abruptly in 2018, and in order to continue to care for her nearly 30-year-old horse, Dr. Odom looked for a new place – and was blessed with a seven acre farm near Chinquapin. She has on site Sunflower Veterinary Clinic and Integrative Animal Health Service, and when she is not at A Country Vet, she offers conventional “minute clinic” services as well as making integrative care available to those seeking complementary modalities for their pets, horses, and livestock.
With five adult children, Dr. Odom now has ten grandchildren. A deaf Border collie named Rye is the newest addition to Dr. Odom’s furry family, and two very geriatric dogs, four cats, a wacky macaw named Samson, and of course, Brandy the horse, and her friend, a one-eyed horse named Sheba, complete Dr. Odom’s family, and they are all enjoying their new life at Sunflower Farm. A huge garden, farm repairs, and frisbee with an obsessed Border collie keep Dr. Odom busy when she’s not working at Country Vet or her own clinic. Eventually Dr. Odom would like to offer classes in herbal medicine and teach equine massage therapy at the farm, as well as find time to finally use her B.A. in English writing children’s books.
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Dr. Christian Kalwa
DVM
Dr. Kalwa grew up in central New Jersey in a household in which animals doubled the amount of people. After moving down to Wilmington to complete an undergraduate degree at UNC-Wilmington, Dr. Kalwa began his veterinary career as a volunteer at A Country Veterinary Clinic and eventually moved up to a veterinary assistant. Finding a strong passion for veterinary medicine, Dr. Kalwa moved on to attend North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and receive his DVM. Dr. Kalwa’s passions within medicine include surgery and ophthalmology. Outside of medicine his passions include playing soccer, coaching, golfing, BJJ, rock climbing, windsurfing, and watching a healthy dose of college football
Practice Managers
Samantha Graber
Practice Manager
Samantha was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she received her Sales and Marketing degree. In 2005, she began her veterinary career at a busy, low cost clinic, much like ACV. Her duties varied greatly and ranged from reception work to being the sole overnight caretaker of all hospitalized patients. In 2009 she was promoted to assist in opening and managing a new hospital branch to expand the accessibility of low cost vet care throughout the city. On July 4 th , 2011, she loaded up her car with a few personal items, 2 dogs, a cat, and a guinea pig and she made her way to Wilmington, a place she only knew from watching One Tree Hill. She quickly found a family away from home with the Wilson’s at A Country Vet. Samantha became our Practice Manager in 2015. One of her favorite parts of the job is seeing her fellow staff members happy and making them feel like family, just as she was made to feel. She also enjoys client education, which allows owners to understand and choose what they feel is best for their pets’ lifestyle. She has a huge heart for those in need and understands the emotion owners go through when their babies are sick. Seeing patients leave feeling better than when they arrived brings her joy. In her spare time she enjoys collecting seashells at the beach, road trips and relaxing at home with her better half, Jeremy, and their fur-kids, Kyrra Malaya, Ruby Tuesday, Chaka, Jayden Riley, Mr. J and Puddin.
Richie Brown
Practice Manager
Richie was born in Wilmington, NC, in 1970 and grew up in Magnolia, NC. He grew up going to church and attending a little school in Warsaw called West Duplin Christian Academy. He gave his life to Christ at the age of 13. After graduating from James Kenan High School in 1988, he attended East Carolina University for two years before transferring to N. C. State where he graduated with a B.S. in Meteorology in 1992. After struggling a few years to find a job in that field, he returned to N. C. State and obtained a graduate degree in Civil Engineering.Richie met his wonderful wife Tina in August of 1994 and they were married in May of 1996. Shortly after that, he was able to land a job as a Traffic Engineer with the City of Wilmington, NC. In June of 1998, they bought their first home and they still live there today, in Hampstead. They have three beautiful daughters, Natalie born in 1997, Mollie born in 2000, and Carrie born in 2003.
Richie and Tina became friends with Dan and Danielle Wilson around 2001 while attending the same church. When Richie lost his engineering job in late 2009, Dan had just opened Country Vet and offered Richie a job as his first vet assistant “just until you can find something else.” He looked for other jobs, but it became apparent that God wanted him to stay at Country Vet. After 5 years or so as a vet assistant, Richie was promoted to his current manager position and calls this the best job he’s ever had working for the best boss he’s ever had.
Richie has two dogs, Jovie and Bindi (pictured) and two cats, Cici and Ellie. In his spare time, Richie enjoys gardening, canoeing, fishing, hiking, and generally fixing things.
