Her PhD is in English literature (Stony Brook University, New York) and she has an art school background (Rhodes University, South Africa), but her focus now is on anxiety, narrative, and representation in health care. She is presently finishing a book with the working title Reading Hypochondria, and has published in journals such as Academic Medicine, Narrative, and Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Medical Humanities and Literature and Medicine, and on the board of directors of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.