CLINICIAN, RESEARCHER, WRITER

About The Author

Dr. of "Pubic Health"

My own #MeTo moments motivated my career as a women’s health nurse practitioner and public health professional. As a nurse, I worked in Labor and Delivery in a hospital and a birthing center. I was honored and awed to be at those births. As a nurse practitioner, I worked for many years in Planned Parenthood and other women’s clinics in Philadelphia. I had interesting times setting up OB/GYN services in a drug treatment program for women and languished for a year behind a desk in an HMO for prison and jail inmates. The first paper I published was called, “Correctional Health Nurses’ Attitudes towards Inmates.” (It became the 7th most-requested articles in the Journal of Correctional Health Care.)

I have a doctorate in Public Health, which I sometimes mispronounce (see title above). I moved from hands-on clinical care to research in women’s health. At a large pharmaceutical company, I developed a pregnancy registry program for women who relied on, or mistakenly used, medications during their pregnancies. Based on my experience there, I published a book entitled Pregnancy and the Pharmaceutical Industry: the Movement Towards Evidence-Based Pharmacotherapy for Pregnant Women (Elsevier, 2019).

As a researcher, I’ve published scientific papers in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Birth Defects Research and other medical journals. I have blogged about women’s health issues for BabyMed, Pregistry, and Ms. Magazine. I’m continuing to share my knowledge of and passion for reproductive health care where I see gaps in understanding.

I’m currently writing a book called The Hidden Epidemic: Demystifying STIs. The purpose of the book is to increase knowledge and decrease stigma about genital infections. I’m an editor on the Perspectives Panel for the journal, Sexually Transmitted Infections and I recently was appointed as the consumer representative for the Bone, Reproductive Health, and Urology Committee at FDA.

I’m also self-publishing a series of short guidebooks on reproductive health issues. They are called, The Vulva Owner’s Manual to (fill in the blank). First in the series is Birth Control, next is Medication Abortion and Emergency Contraception. Other topics in the pipeline are menstrual regulation and natural family planning. Let me know if you think of a topic that would fill a gap in knowledge that a guide book would help.

I live in the beautiful Bucks County woods of Pennsylvania but I am often sighted in Charleston, South Carolina.

Favorite Places

Comfy chair with fat book
Dark movie theater
Outdoor shower
Ascending airplane
Overstuffed book store

Hobbies

Book Reading
Skiing
Yoga
Film
Travel
Book Hoarding

Background

Nursing:
BSN – UPenn
MSN – Drexel

Public Health:
MPH – Drexel
DrPH – UNC

Volunteering

Author Aid
Pipersville Library
Worthwhile Wear and Freedom Boutique
Jubilee House – Nicaragua
Unite for Sight – Chennai
Bucks County Medical Reserve Corps