I grew up in Steilacoom, Washington. When I was in seventh grade, I was the only girl in science class who liked dissecting the frog. My 12-year-old brain equated frog dissection to medicine, and so my life path was set. I attended college and medical school at the University of Washington in Seattle. After my residency training in Tacoma, I soaked up the sun in California for a couple of years as a private practice family medicine physician, and in 2002, I decided to return to the Northwest, and since that time have enjoyed working at Kaiser Permanente.