I worked at the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where I held a joint appointment with the School of Nursing, in the Department of Acute and Chronic Care. I practiced for over 10 years as a research and clinical care nurse in the nurse-directed Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Clinic at the School of Medicine. While there, I helped case manage over 200 ALS patients. In addition, I worked as a psychiatric nurse at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. I have worked with terminally ill patients as the coordinator of a health care decision-making study at the School of Nursing.
I earned my Bachelor of Science in nursing degree at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in 1999. I served in the Peace Corps in the Republic of Moldova from 1993-1995. I decided to become a nurse after seeing effective nursing interventions in infection control and women's health programs during my service overseas.
I have been a Peace Corps Fellow and Albert Schweitzer Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and a Sargent Shriver Peaceworker at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. I was the 2010 recipient of the Shriver Peaceworker Program's Practical Idealist Award.
