Prior to teaching, she worked as a Family Nurse Practitioner in Occupational Health, and as an Registered Nurse in the Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Units. She obtained a Masters in Science, Family Nurse Practitioner certification from the University of Minnesota in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Education from North Dakota State University in 2011. She is a 2013 Edmund J. Safra Visiting Nurse Scholar and presented a poster about the Interdisciplinary Case Studies at The 4th World Parkinson Congress in Portland last fall. She is married and has three boys and one girl, aged 9 to 16. In her sparetime she enjoys watching her kids play sports and perform in plays, reading, and the occasional girl’s weekend of scrapbooking.