Esser earned her DVM from Oregon State University in 2008. After a rotating internship at Littleton Equine Medical Center in Colorado, followed by an internal medicine fellowship at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Kentucky, she went on to complete an internal medicine residency and earn a master’s degree in veterinary science from Oregon State University. Esser then became a member of the large animal internal medicine faculty at the University of Minnesota, where her time was divided between clinical service and DVM student education.

Esser’s research has focused on submaximal endurance exercise in horses, as noted in her publication “Serum immunoglobulin concentrations in horses racing a multiday endurance event” and master’s thesis, “Serum biochemistry and immunoglobulin dynamics in multi-day endurance racing horses.”  However, she is inspired by the investigation of overall health and well-being of hospitalized horses as noted in other collaborative publications: “The effect of infusion of equine plasma and 6% hydroxyethyl starch (600/0.75) on the plasma colloid osmotic pressure of healthy horses,” and “Nasal Adenocarcinoma in a Horse with Metastasis to Lung, Liver, and Bone and Review of Metastasis in Nine Horses with Sinonasal Tumors.”

A Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Large Animal), Esser also holds a certification in remote delivery of PZP Immunocontraception in wildlife.