I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion and Philosophy from Kentucky Wesleyan College, graduating summa cum laude in 1980. I studied medicine at the University of Louisville and obtained a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1984. I finished my pediatric internship and residency at the University of Alabama-Birmingham in 1987. I spent another year in Emergency Medicine at the Children’s Hospital before moving to Montana in 1988. I worked in Crow Agency, Montana, with Indian Health Service 1988-2015, providing primary care, emergency care, and public health services to the Crow Indian children. During that time, a large portion of my work involved mental health and psychological services to victims of trauma and inclement weather. I also attended the deliveries of thousands of babies, and cared for many born premature. I have worked nights, part-time, as a pediatric hospitalist at SCL Health in Billings, Montana since 2013, caring for inpatients, newborns, and emergency department patients. I have decades of experience caring for children who have suffered disruption in their lives and who bear the scars of Adverse Childhood Events, and have followed and cared for the health of such children for many years. I earned a Master of Science degree in Energy Policy and Climate from Johns Hopkins in 2020.
My board certification is through the American Board of Pediatrics, from 1988 to present. I served as President of the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) from 1996- 1999. I received the Deaconess Billings Clinic Foundation Medical Achievement Award in 2000. I earned the Alumni Achievement Award from Kentucky Wesleyan College in 2005. I also won the Native American Child Health Advocacy Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2005. In 2021, the Unsung Heroes of the Academy of Pediatrics award was presented to me for work in climate and child health.