BA Grinnell College
MD University of Rochester/George Washington U
Peds Residency, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC
Board Certified, Pediatrics

I feel it is a great privilege to be someone’s doctor. I wanted to be a pediatrician since elementary school, but it has been a long road getting there. After graduating high school in St. Louis, Missouri, I went to Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, where I majored in chemistry, which I loved from high school. Then I did a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, which I liked, but I found myself disappointed that my laboratory work would not be used for actual patients.

So I was very pleased to be accepted at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in 1999. I loved medical school. However, I continued to have some glitches in the road. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer my second semester of medical school, and she died a year later. I ended up coming home to Maryland to be with and help take care of her while she died in hospice, a time at home I will never forget nor regret.

After my second year of medical school, I transferred to George Washington University School of Medicine so I could live with my husband. We have been together since we were both 16 years old! At the end of medical school I had my first child, Isabelle Ivy. My children mean the world to me, as I am sure yours do, too! I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home with Isabelle for the whole first year of her life. I then did my pediatrics residency, concentrating in primary care, at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, finishing in 2008. I loved the primary-care office where I did a lot of my training and cried at the end of my last session working there!

My second daughter, Violet, was born during my last year of residency. The way my life has worked, I have had the experience at different times of being both a mother who works more than full-time and a completely stay-at-home mother, both of which come with their challenges and rewards. One of my favorite activities to do with my daughters has always been to read books; this was something I could keep up as a pediatric resident, too.

I am a strong proponent of breastfeeding and have done research into the benefits of breastfeeding, the components of human milk, and the social factors that make for successful breastfeeding.

My husband, daughters and I relocated to the Bay Area in the fall of 2008 so that my husband could work in the area; he had wanted to come this way for many years. We enjoy the nature and weather of the area and plan on staying in California for a long, long time. I am thrilled to have finally reached my goal of being a pediatrician. Now that I am here, I look forward to meeting you and helping you keep your children healthy and strong.