
My Background.
I’m a sixth generation Minnesotan, with roots in Kandiyohi County, where I grew up. I graduated from Willmar Sr. High School, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton College. After college, I spent a year in Copenhagen, Denmark, as a Fulbright Scholar. I then attended medical school at Cornell University in New York City, followed by psychiatry residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Since returning to Minnesota in 2013, I have had the privilege of working throughout greater Minnesota to help patients meet their mental health needs.
I also recently completed a Masters of Public Health at the University of Minnesota as well as a program in Wilderness Medicine, and in 2016-2017, I had the honor to pursue a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. My work in health care focuses on epidemics, mental health, and on the changing physical and emotional relationship humans have with our environment. I live and work in Prior Lake, where I am a member of the Citizens Engagement Committee. I also serve as a volunteer doctor with the Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps, and I have had the honor of providing volunteer medical care to patients in Africa, where I was moved by the heartbreaking need I saw.
