I received my MD degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. I then went on to do my residency training in Internal Medicine at the Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara, CA, where I was chief resident in my third year and became Board Certified. After my residency, I spent the next five years practicing general internal medicine at an HMO in New Jersey. While there, I was chair of the Quality Improvement Committee and a member of the Physician Board of Directors.

In 1987 I moved to Santa Barbara with my husband and two small sons and took a position practicing medicine at the University of California at Santa Barbara. In 1991 I was promoted to the position of Director of Student Health and Campus Physician. In that role, in addition to patient care, I advised the campus on all public health matters, managed a full service health care clinic and was chair of the campus wide Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force. In the area of substance abuse, I worked with Student Health’s expert, Dr. Ian Kaminsky, to develop a unique curriculum treating substance abuse that was based on principles specific to adolescents and young adults.

I left UCSB in 2005 to become the Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, the local nonprofit organization providing health care to the unserved and underserved.

I left that position in November 2007, looking for an opportunity to engage in more “hands on” patient care using my unique skills developed over the course of my career. My current practice is designed to share that knowledge with the entire Santa Barbara Community.