Dr. Charisse Ongie-Cha was born and raised in Hawaii, where she had all types of pets growing up. Having such wonderful memories with her furry/scaly/feathery family members created a desire for her to help families in her community develop the same emotional connection to their own animals through shelter medicine. Dr. Ongie-Cha was inspired to enter the field of veterinary medicine in the hopes of nurturing this human/animal bond.

Dr. Ongie-Cha proceeded to move to the continental US in pursuit of this higher education and received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at Colorado State University in 2017 with an interest in shelter medicine. She then completed a shelter medicine internship at Denver Animal Shelter. After completing this internship, Dr. Ongie-Cha moved to California in 2019 where she worked as a relief veterinarian for VCA in both general practice and emergency medicine. Through these experiences, she has developed a love for the fast pace of emergency care, soft tissue surgery, and exotic companion animal medicine while still maintaining her initial interest in shelter medicine.

Dr. Ongie Cha has taken on a full-time position with us at VCA Mueller Pet Medical Center as an emergency veterinarian where we are excited to have her as part of our exceptional DVM team!

Outside of the clinic, Dr. Ongie-Cha spends most of her time playing video games with her husband, eating at new restaurants, and loving on her rescue dogs, Whooves and Severus.