Kelsey Duensing was born and raised in St.Charles, Illinois, where she spent eight years working at a small animal veterinary clinic. She came to the University of Illinois to pursue her dream of studying animal sciences and attending veterinary school. She focused her undergraduate studies on gaining experiences with a wide variety of animal species, spending much of her time at the university farms and volunteering at the UIUC Wildlife Medical Clinic. She started working for the Stein lab in April 2015.

Kelsey graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Animal Sciences with a concentration in pre-veterinary medicine in December 2015, then worked as a full time research assistant with the Stein lab until July 2015. She is currently enrolled in vet school at the University of Missouri.