She attended Yale University for her undergraduate training and Johns Hopkins her medical and public health training. She then completed her residency training at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency program, where she served as chief resident. A Denver native, she was thrilled to return home to serve her state by working to promote health and prevent suicide, car crashes, and other forms of injury. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Emergency Medicine Foundation, and she has published numerous research articles. She has also worked as an expert consultant with national organizations in suicide prevention.