I am a native Oregonian, born and raised in the southwest corner of the state. As a young adult, I realized that I had a calling for the healing profession. I studied nursing at the local community college. After graduation, I cofounded a foster home for people living with HIV disease and worked at a hospital. I worked in different areas of the hospital including chemical dependency, medical/surgical floor, rehabilitation floor and home health. I returned to school, graduating from Southern Oregon University with a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing, followed by a Master's Degree in Science, subspecialty adult nurse practitioner program, from Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU). After graduating from OSHU, I returned to southern Oregon to practice at a rural primary care clinic for three years. Ready for an urban experience, I moved to Portland to accept a nurse practitioner (NP) job at Kaiser Permanente in the Addiction Medicine department in 1997. Once again, I returned to school. This time to study Traditional Chinese Medicine. I graduated from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in 2009 with a Master's Degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I practice acupuncture at the Brookside Center.