Her graduate (MD) degree was conferred by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, and her undergraduate (BA) degree was obtained at Hunter College of the City University of New York, where she majored in Biology/Chemistry and minored in Math/Psychology as a Thomas Hunter Honors Scholar. She has practiced as a family physician in New York City, Charleston, SC, and rural TN and SC (where she maintains an unrestricted medical license). Although she’s been teaching since 1981 (online since 1999), and full-time university faculty since 2004, she continues to periodically deliver clinical services in the free clinic setting.