Professional Bio:

My career has been marked by an enthusiasm for clinical investigation and lifelong learning, inspired by tremendous mentorship and diverse professional experiences with many ACC member groups. I graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a Bachelor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies and matriculated in the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSOM), graduating with highest honors in 1998. Working in the Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery laboratory at IUSOM, I participated in clinical and fundamental studies of surgical approaches to congenital heart disease. I completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where I was recognized for outstanding teaching and patient care and was Chief Fellow during my fourth fellowship year. I chose a clinical-scientist fellowship track with two years of dedicated research time on a T32 training grant with Dr. Suzanne Oparil, where I published fundamental research describing the cascade of inflammatory events after vascular injury and made original observations on aging-related changes in these responses to estrogen. I continued to work in this line of research when I was recruited to stay at UAB as Assistant Professor, Associate Director of the Cardiology Fellowship and Vascular Biology & Hypertension Programs in 2005. In the clinical sphere, I stayed active as an educator, clinician, and in the echocardiography laboratory. Additionally, through my work in the fellowship program and my research focus on aging and women’s cardiovascular health, I engaged with a passionate group of ACC leaders in the subspecialty of geriatric cardiology. In 2008, I decided to leave UAB and reached out to the premier private practice in our state. CardioVascular Associates (CVA) was founded in 1946, is a founding member of MedAxiom, currently includes 29 cardiologists who provide comprehensive subspecialty care, and integrated with Tenet in 2011. At CVA I have poured my non-clinical efforts into the governance of our practice and into the ACC. When we integrated, I was elected by my peers as one of three Physician Leaders on the Joint Operating Committee, a dyading team of physicians and administrators who make strategic and operational decisions for the practice. As Chair of the Board of Governors, I brought bi-directional communication from the grassroots to move the ball on issues such as prior authorization, diversity and inclusion, engagement of the cardiovascular team, maintenance of certification (MOC), and a strategy to engage the cardiovascular enterprise. On the Board of Trustees I have been an important membership voice as I have found my sum total experiences permit me to advocate for all of our members: Academic and Private Practice, Physician and Cardiovascular Team, Pediatric and Geriatric, Cardiologist and Surgeon.