She grew up in New Ulm, MN and attended Gustavus Adolphus College. She received her medical doctorate from the University of MInnesota Medical School and completed her residency in family medicine at St. John's Hospital in Maplewood, Minn. She enjoyed practicing rural family medicine for many years in Buffalo and Cokato, MN before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota-Duluth Family Medicine Residency Program in 2004. After 10 years as faculty and program director, she joined the CSS faculty as inaugural chairperson of the Physician Assistant program in 2014. She completed her MBA in 2014 at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She is passionate about women's health, geriatrics and rural medicine.