I am an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Duke University Department of Psychiatry and a core faculty at the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy specializing in intellectual and other developmental disabilities (IDD). I earned my PhD in Nursing from Duke University (2020) and completed my postdoctoral studies at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy (2020-2022). Before that, I earned my BSN (2003) and MSN (2009) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). I achieved dual certification as a family nurse practitioner and a family psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner.

Clinical Expert

As a nurse practitioner (NP), I have expertise in integrating primary care and mental health services for individuals of all ages. I have extensive knowledge in providing care for people with complex medical and psychiatric conditions, including eating disorders, IDD, and other severe and persistent mental illnesses. I have provided clinical care to people with IDD throughout North Carolina.

Educator

I provide medical, health policy, and research methodology education to undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate learners. I teach masters’s and doctoral students about evidence-based physical and mental/behavioral health care for people with IDD within clinical settings. I serve as the UNC Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities NP faculty and teach within the interdisciplinary Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program at the University of North Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. At Duke University, I have taught research courses focused on Hispanic mental health, housing insecurity, food insecurity, and social-emotional health with undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and postdoctoral students. You can also find me giving guest lectures on IDD and various other health topics, such as health policy, health care transformation, and science communication, in order to amplify impact.

Nurse Scientist

As a nurse scientist, I develop interventions and health policy solutions to improve the health and well-being of people with IDD and their families.

Throughout my work in these various capacities, I advocate for improving mental and physical health care services for people, with an emphasis on improving the health outcomes of the IDD community. I am advancing developmental disabilities-specific education and training opportunities for NPs, Physicians, Physician Assistants, and other healthcare professionals to expand our workforce capacity to provide high-quality healthcare to the IDD community. My current research interests include addressing the behavioral and physical health disparities experienced by those with IDD, particularly as they transition into adulthood, healthcare transformation, global health policy, and self-compassion.