Committed to Innovation as an Educator and Leader

It was a decision that surprised not only me, but also my family and friends! Before that moment, I was studying to become a foreign service officer to put my well-rounded early education, love of people, the arts, travel, and teamwork to the test. I am now realizing that this early goal aligns beautifully with my role as a professional nurse. Those interests, skills, and experiences enrich my practice and interactions with patients and colleagues every day. Practicing effective nursing relies on excellent observation and assessment skills. Situational awareness, along with discretion, diplomacy, and dialogue, helps ensure the patients we care for receive safe care wherever they are.

In my practice as a clinician and professor, innovation is key to moving ourselves, our students, and the body of nursing knowledge forward. Curiosity is what led me to research a little-understood phenomenon, the surgical team's experience with surgical smoke (indoor air pollution) during surgery. An innovative methodology allowed me to co-construct a novel conceptualization that advances the science of surgical smoke exposure and will guide future studies and policy in the operating room. It is my hope that these findings will also inform future studies around other hazardous exposures. I enjoy collaborating with faculty and students, and know I am charged with identifying the intersections of clinical practice and environmental health. I hope to collaborate on curriculum development, preparing students to address emerging issues in healthcare. This will contribute to new growth for practice change.

I have always known I would like to become a professor! Teaching has always been a natural and enjoyable part of my role as a learner and teacher, whether it was at school, with a patient, or with colleagues at work. Becoming a faculty member at USF SONHP feels like a full-circle moment. My teaching philosophy is informed by a commitment to student-centered learning, preparing individuals for complex practice and work environments, and a love of lifelong learning. For example, my class sessions use smallgroup discussions and patient case studies so students may practice applying situational awareness and integrating critical thinking skills. I strive to integrate perioperative nursing, public health, and environmental health into my courses, expanding and thinking of ways to inspire and invite new ideas and ways of practicing nursing and public health. I am especially interested in developing interdisciplinary approaches that connect nursing practice to existing and emerging global and environmental health issues.

During the health policy master’s program at UCSF, I had the rare privilege of experiencing an internship at the World Health Organization (WHO). What a dynamic and opportune environment that integrated my collective experience, interests, and practice as a nurse! Watching nurses build capacity in a multi-disciplinary environment, at the global level, was a wonderful way to merge my interests in diplomacy and policy with the art and science of nursing. Much of who I am is because of decades of deep involvement with my professional organization, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN). Mentoring and being mentored continues to play a very important role as I integrate clinical and leadership skills. Another highlight was my time in the PhD program at UCSF as a Jonas Philanthropies Scholar in Washington, D.C., where I was invited to network and collaborate with colleagues and leading nurse innovators working to advance the profession locally and globally. It was a transformative and resonant experience that continues to inspire and fuel my practice, whether I am at the bedside, the policy table, or in the classroom.

From the very beginning of my USF Journey as a nursing student, I have had a strong connection with USF's mission, vision, and values. Because of my formative experience at USF, I have navigated my practice as a public health nurse, a perioperative nurse, and most recently as a new educator. Visionary and core nursing principles were instilled in me to care for the whole person amid a complex and ever-changing healthcare landscape. Always, and still guiding me, is a strong sense of my identity as a professional nurse; grounded in excellence, ethics, and the environment, while caring for self, others, and the planet. My nursing journey brings many interests full circle and unfolds into exciting new discoveries. Now, I am back as a “Double Don”! How deeply honored and thrilled I am to be a part of USF SONHP. Onward!

Fun Fact: I speak French!

Here is a quote that I like and that is resonant as a new professor:

“We convince by our presence.”
~ Walt Whitman