About Me

I’m a psychiatric nurse practitioner with a doctoral degree, specializing in addiction medicine and trauma-informed care for people who use substances or have substance use disorders. My work is grounded in health justice, harm reduction, and creating care systems that are compassionate, equitable, and rooted in real-life needs.

I divide my time between direct patient care and partnering with individuals and organizations striving to better serve those who have been historically excluded or harmed by healthcare systems. My work includes consulting, technical assistance, and leading workshops and trainings on trauma-informed care, de-stigmatization, harm reduction, medications for addiction treatment, and co-occurring disorders. At its core, my work bridges evidence-based practices with the wisdom of lived experience, while helping transform systems to meet people exactly where they are —not where we assume they should be. I bring this lens not just as a clinician, but also as someone who has built clinical systems for people who use drugs from the ground up—and who has led this work as a medical director, designing and implementing both ambulatory and hospital-based programs for co-occurring disorders rooted in harm reduction. That experience allows me to help organizations move from intention to implementation, embedding real-world change into clinical practice.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of training hundreds of clinicians and care workers—including physicians, nurses, social workers, firefighters, peers, and others—across multiple states and systems like Kaiser Permanente and other large hospitals, as well as various state agencies and community- based organizations.

I have been honored to receive a few awards along the way—including the AANP State Award for Excellence, the OHSU Distinguished Alumni Award, an Oregon Society of Addiction Medicine Certificate of Excellence, a Oregon Health Equity Award, and a fellowship with the International Society of Addiction Nurses. I’ve also been voted by my peers as one of the best Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners in Portland for multiple years in a row. I hold those honors with gratitude and humility.

If you are the sort of person who likes a more formal C.V., you can click here for my C.V.