About Me
Education and background
Bachelors of Liberal Arts from Hofstra University 2007
Associates in Nursing, Rasmussen College, 2012
Bachelors of Nursing, Rasmussen College, 2016
Masters of Science in Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner, University of Cincinnati, 2019
Functional Medicine University 2026
I started adult life in NYC thinking I would be a big shot executive someday living in a brownstone. Then my sister ended up in the ICU fighting for her life and my trajectory changed. I left it all and moved to Florida. I started working as a nurse technician in 2011 through nursing school and never looked back. I knew I wanted to become a Nurse Practitioner. I stayed in the hospital after getting my masters degree as a hospitalist/ internal NP. After three years in internal medicine I wanted to know more and accepted a job as an Oncology and Hematology Inpatient NP. What a blessed and humbling experience it was to work with this patient population. I will forever be grateful for the life lessons I learned from these patients and their family members.
Why integrative Medicine?
During my 14 years of hospital acute care medicine caring for every age, every diagnosis and every outcome; there were two things I was asked on a regular basis. 1. "What could I have done to prevent this?" and 2. "What can I do to prevent this from happening again?" The truth was I didn't always have the answer. It was acute care, once I fixed the imminent problem I was done. What happened next was an outpatient providers responsibility. But I realized early on that the medical system had gaps in care.
I am part of a generation that survived Chef Boyardee, garden hose water because our parents didn't let us inside, dial up internet, Jagerbombs, fist pumping, no-sleep-then-work mornings and no cell phone. I have been on-the-go for as long as I can remember. I figured one day I would get enough rest and reset. I started doing all the "right things" like eating organic and exercising when I could while also working, taking care of my three children and my parents. One day my body said, ENOUGH! I also started looking how I felt, and no thank you! I finally asked myself the same thing my patients used to ask me "What could I have done to prevent this from happening? What can I do to prevent this from getting worse?" The answer was simple, start taking care of myself. The how was the hard part.
My labs at the primary care office were "within normal limits". Technically nothing was wrong with me in the conventional sense. I started asking myself, what is the right fix. Should I take a GLP-1, should I be on hormones, what are peptides and should I be on them, should I stop eating gluten, should I start a primal diet, should I drink kambucha, take NAD, glutathione, ashwagandha, mushroom coffee? What workout is better, running, yoga, crossfit, bootcamps, goat yoga, and when am I supposed to do that? What do I do, where do I start, some? All? Thanks to TickTok, Instagram and Facebook the choices are endless. I know there are many men and women around my age currently in the same position. I decided to take a leap of faith and find data driven answers, I enrolled in a functional medicine program.
I finally answered my own questions and want to be the provider to help you answer yours. In the current technology climate you can find an article that either supports or disputes any claim, just ask ChatGPT. My goal is to utilize long standing data to justify decisions, not just single article bias. I will use traditional medical work up, diagnostics and prescription medications if needed but I will also integrate functional medicine practices creating an integrative/holistic plan.
If my journey sounds relatable, reach out today. It is okay to take care of yourself.
