Having lived in the upper Valley for over twenty years, I am delighted to be "coming home" and working in my own backyard again.    I also feel lucky, as I have throughout my career, to have a job I love, one that gives me the opportunity to meet and care for a fascinating, fun variety of babies, kids, teens and, of course, families.

While in college as a biology major at Cornell, as I juggled options including med school and research, I discovered nurse practitioners (NPs) while volunteering at a local clinic.   While NPs do much of what doctors do, the training is a little different, combining the "caring" focus of nursing with the "curing" focus of medicine.  

After getting my Master's and NP training at Yale, I worked in Boston for a couple of years before moving "out west" to Amherst in 1980, where I started my family and discovered the joys of combining part-time Pediatrics with raising kids.   I've worked with children with special needs, in college health at U Mass and also at the Mercy Hospital ER.   For the past 15 years, I've worked in primary care at Medical West/Riverbend in Chicopee and more recently at Sumner Pediatrics in Springfield.   I'm Board Certified as a PNP, and have also taught Pediatrics in the U Mass graduate nursing program.   I'm particularly interested in developmental and psychological issues, as well as adolescent health and gynecology, but mostly I love the challenges of a variety of ages, systems and people!

My husband, Bill, and I live in Shutesbury, where we have just become "empty nesters" as the third of our daughters headed off to college.   When not working, Bill and I try to fit in lots of travel, skiing, rafting, live music, and visiting our kids.   It's a thrill to be the first Pediatric Nurse Practitioner on the great team at Northampton Area Pediatrics.