Her nursing career includes inpatient and outpatient staff and leadership positions in maternal child health settings. She served as the Title V Maternal Child Health Director for the state of Montana until 2010. Jo Ann was a faculty member at Montana State University and Carroll College in Montana prior to her faculty position at Washington State University. She is part of the research faculty for the Rural Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment program at WSU, which is led by Dr. John Roll. The program’s objective is to develop, modify and implement evidence-based treatments for substance abuse and mental illness for use in rural settings. Jo Ann’s areas of interests include public health, with a special focus on the maternal child health population and rural health promotion. Her dissertation topic was evaluation of home visiting services for high-risk pregnant women.