She came to nursing after 10 years as an anthropologist, specializing in the evaluation of skeletal health and nutrition in prehistoric North America. She earned her doctorate in Anthropology in 2001 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She returned to school in 2004 and earned her BSN and MSN in Nursing Education and Family Nurse Practitioner from Duke University and has practiced as a Family Nurse Practitioner in Alaska since 2009. She currently practices in a family practice clinic in Anchorage.