A graduate of the University of California-Davis, Dr. Rasmussen received her Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences and Policy Studies in 1988 and continued at the UC Davis College of Veterinary Medicine, completing her veterinary medical degree in 1993. She completed a small animal medicine and surgery internship at South Shore Veterinary Associates in Massachusetts in 1994 and went on to complete a three-year small animal surgical residency and Masters Degree at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Rasmussen taught as a clinical instructor at Washington State University and as an associate professor and, later, an adjunct clinical professor at Western University of Health Sciences from 1999 to 2006.