About Me

​

For more than a decade, I've managed life with Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). As a young woman, symptoms appeared one day and they wouldn't be tamed for years.  While the disease hasn't stopped me from living my life, its appearance has altered my course; sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. I'm passionate about sharing my experience to support others.  ​

​

While carefully managing appointments, medications, procedures, and frustrating flares, I've also acted as a passionate patient advocate in the IBD community through support of developing research, advancing quality of care initiatives, and evolving clinical care pathways to meet the unique needs of IBD patients. 

 

Through national speaking engagements, I have shared this experience as a patient living with Crohn’s disease, along with other illnesses, with the medical community, bringing an important perspective to the urgent need for a more patient-centered approach to disease management, education, and support.