- Gender:
- Female
- Year began practicing:
- 2003
- Year joined staff:
- 2024
Areas Of Interest
My current interest lies with weight management. My previous experience allowed me to manage many facets of an underlying root cause, obesity. My focus in my current role is to help individual's attain a healthy lifestyle through weight management. So many of our disease states can be positively impacted, or even reversed, by maintaining a healthy weight. Goals will be inline with the Obesity Medicine Association’s (OMA) four pillars of weight management; nutrition, physical activity, behavior modification, and medical intervention.
My roots are here in Bettendorf. After graduating high school, I attended college in Kirksville, Missouri and spent most of my adult life back here in Iowa. I raised my family in Solon, IA and have two wonderful children.
I consider myself to be a life long learner and enjoy attempting new hobbies. I enjoy the outdoors with kayaking, hiking, and bike riding. Slowly getting into the camping world. Completing the Iowa Masters Naturalist program allowed me to enjoy nature in a whole new light. Photography has allowed me to find the beauty in everything.
Music is a wonderful way to relax. I enjoy live outdoor venues; Red Rocks in Colorado is my favorite. Dabbled a bit learning guitar and Native American flute. Both take a great deal of discipline and practice. I am open to all genres of music, but the 70’s and 80’s music will always live in my heart. I also enjoy reading and history.
The nursing field has allowed me the opportunity to learn and grow within my profession. My career started as a registered nurse in the operating room at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, IA. I was always challenged to learn and grow and saw opportunities within the profession to expand. It was during this time I finished my graduate education.
Graduating in 2003, I began my career as a Family Nurse Practitioner at the University of Iowa. First in the pre-surgical anesthesia clinic. later transferring to the inpatient cardiology service. During this time, I began learning about the long term health effects of sleep apnea on body. An opportunity opened in Cedar Rapids with the Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa (PCI) Neurology/ Sleep Medicine program. I spent seven years with the Sleep Clinic at PCI and two years with Mercy Hospital's Sleep Clinic in Springfield, Missouri.
