I have been with VUMC since 2013. Started my career in VUMC as a MICU RN and this is where my passion for transplant and involvement in patient care was cultivated. With God’s provision, I was blessed to receive my Master of Science in Nursing from Belmont University in 2018 and started my first NP job with the outpatient heart transplant team! This is where I took my first steps as a nurse practitioner and got exposed to the humbling yet very rewarding service for our transplant patients and family from organ failure to transplant listing and up to the lifelong management post organ transplant. With my 3-year foundation working with heart transplant, I have moved to the Division of Nephrology to serve as a renal transplant nurse practitioner and continuing the learning and growth on how to better serve our patients through long term post-transplant care of our adult kidney and pancreas transplant recipients. I would not be able to do so without the support of our amazing physicians, transplant coordinators, pharmacists, social workers, and schedulers.
The most challenging part of my job is navigating through socioeconomic and psychosocial obstacles while collaborating with other specialty providers inside and outside VUMC. We follow our patients lifelong post-transplant and often become the main providers that our patients consult given other providers are not comfortable taking care of transplant patients. Therefore, we as transplant providers need to keep up with our primary care and general medicine knowledge to better help our patients and collaborate with other specialty providers. Each patient brings their unique set of challenges and that keep me and my team creative in conjuring solutions and ways to provide the best wholistic care and this what makes our job so rewarding!
Seeing my patients transition from organ failure to living their goals and dreams after receiving their transplant is my greatest pride and joy! Patient stories such as being able to go to Disney Land, continuing to sing for church choir, and being able to walk their daughter in the aisle for marriage after transplant are something worth more than any personal publications. For me, patient success stories are the best publications. Therefore, I invest in giving time in patient care improvement. I was part of the Patient Advisory Board for the heart transplant team and looking forward to creating one for the post kidney and pancreas transplant recipients.
I enjoy traveling and experiencing the great outdoors through hiking and paddle boarding with my husband, Michael. If we are not at work, in the mountains, or out in the open water, we serve as active leaders for our church plant in Mt Juliet, TN where we focus on creating meaningful connections with each member while growing together in knowing Christ’s character each day—currently meeting every Saturday in Mt Juliet Community Center.
