Professional Bio: Board certified physician anesthesiologist participating in the American Board of Anesthesia’s rigorous Maintenance Certification Program. Undergraduate education at the University of Arizona included major emphasis in molecular and cellular biology, with minors in Math, Physics, Chemistry and Spanish. Medical education was completed at the University of Iowa. Following a year of Internal Medicine training at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, anesthesia training was completed at the University Medical Center in Tucson where I served as chief resident. I was awarded the Slade L Spencer MD outstanding resident award and the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society outstanding medical education award. Following residency I worked a demanding private practice job that included complex intracranial neuroanesthesia, pediatric vascular, obstetric, general, orthopedic and outpatient anesthesia.
Hometown: Saint David, AZ
1st Job Ever: Graphic Designer and data entry tech. In middle school I was hired by the school district to modernise and digitize all of the teaching plans from hand-written binders to an organized unified computerized format.
Why did you decide on a Dental Field job? My longtime friend from college, Dr Matheson, was over to dinner and mentioned some of the challenges facing office-based dental anesthesia, and it sounded like fun. I’ve been hooked since.
Hobbies and Interests: I love to tinker with broken down junk and fix it up. Computers, especially. I like classical music and look forward to some day when I can play the piano again. I’m mostly busy caring for my 6 children, but also love gardening flowers.
What is something people don’t know about you? I sleep in the closet on a little foam pad on the floor. That’s a tradition that I started in residency when sleep was scarce and sacred, and I’ve never been able to give up the quiet darkness since then.
What is your favorite food? Chinese hot & sour soup - especially when I make it!!