Elissa received her veterinary degree from the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island in 1999. She worked in private practice in Fryeburg, Maine and Halifax, Nova Scotia before pursuing her interest in wildlife medicine, completing a month-long internship at the Wildlife Center of Virginia. She worked with the Toronto Wildlife Center and volunteered with the Fatal Light Awareness (FLAP) Program until her family relocated to Calgary, Alberta in 2005.

In 2006, Elissa began working for Calgary Humane Society. She completed the University of Florida Online Graduate Certificate in Shelter Medicine in 2014 and has been an adjunct clinical instructor for the University of Calgary Distributed Veterinary Learning Community since 2011. Elissa and her husband have two children and two previously fostered sibling cats as well as two beta fish. She enjoys spending time outdoors whether gardening, hiking or peacefully floating on the water.