About Me

Although I’ve long had a career in advertising and then publishing, my extensive health-care experience has been the core of my life-long journey.

·      In the 1980s, at the beginning of the AIDS crisis, I was as an A-Team hotline counselor for Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) in New York City, answering calls from people scared about their diagnosis or afraid to get tested, talking through their options and the available services.

·      By 1990, I was volunteering at the clinic at the Gay Community Center in New York’s Greenwich village as a peer counselor, helping patients understand what their doctors discussed at their appointments, including testing protocols and the latest treatments.

·      I joined the Child-Life program in 2004 at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City where I used play therapy to help make the journey a little easier for children admitted to the hospital. 

·      Since 2023, I have volunteered as a patient experience liaison at Yale New Haven Hospital where I round on newly-admitted patients to make sure they are receiving care that meets their physical and emotional needs.

·      Since 2023, I also sit on the Patient and Family Advisory Counsel (PFAC) at Smilow Cancer Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.

·      Since 2024 I have been active with the National Patient Advocacy foundation (NPAF) contributing to their blog and webinars.

·      In 2025, I completed my training at the Cleveland State University Nursing School to become a professional patient advocate in the U. S. medical system.

Helping people navigate their health care has brought me into contact with the best doctors in the country including gastroenterologists, pancreatologists, infectious disease specialists, oncologists, ENTs, ophthalmologic surgeons, endocrinologists, urologists, neurologists, and pelvic floor specialists.

 My work with clients honed my expertise with cancers including but not limited to stomach, ovarian, breast, lung, liver and pancreatic cancer, as well as GIST tumors and pancreatic IPMNs. I have also worked with patients dealing with IBS, IBD, syringomyelia, essential tremor, migraines, orthopedic issues, advanced kidney disease, and diabetes.

My husband and I have been together for nearly thirty years and share our home in rural New England with our collie, Nosh.